


Drawing Attention

by MrSchimpf



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/F, Line Art, Older Woman/Younger Woman, Sketches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-11-23 07:06:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 47,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/619405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrSchimpf/pseuds/MrSchimpf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lorelai and Paris are in lonely ruts in their lives. Can they somehow come together when Paris doesn't even know it? Through the course of five months, the lives of an innkeeper and future oncologist come together in different ways. New friendships are discovered, old ones are broken, and a simple window in a classroom shifts the direction of two women towards each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sketching Out the Details

**Title: Drawing Attention | Chapter One | Sketching Out the Details  
Author: **Nate  
 **Pairing:** Paris/Lorelai, other original characters for other established supporting characters. Rory/Logan acknowledged but certainly not shipped.  
 **Spoilers:** This is a definite alternate take on season seven. Lorelai never went near a relationship with Christopher, but turned down Luke's invitation to elope. Everything with Logan and Rory happened as is in the show but will not be elaborated on. Paris and Doyle are broken up friends and distant. Finally, Olivia and Lucy happened for Rory, but not for Paris.  
 **Rating:** R for now (mostly profanity and sensuality, things will go up later on. There is also some controlled underage drinking in here.)  
 **Disclaimer:** Yes, yes, I know, _Gilmore Girls_ is the property of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, Hofflund-Polone and Warner Bros. Television. Somehow I haven't been able to change that yet. All other trademarks and services are the property of their respective owners.  
 **Archiving:** Only where posted. Anyone else, ask first.  
 **Summary:** Lorelai and Paris are in lonely ruts in their lives. Can they somehow come together when Paris doesn't even know it? Through the course of five months, the lives of an innkeeper and future oncologist come together in different ways. New friendships are discovered, old ones are broken, and a simple window in a classroom shifts the direction of two women towards each other.  
 **Author's** **Notes:** Hello there! I know, I know, this isn't _The Innkeeper's Lover_ , but that story's chapter four has become a beast that may not be posted anytime soon. This is one of two fics I'm posting to start 2013, and this story I'm curious as to how people will read it. I've been working on this one for two years from an idea I had back then, but just never got around to finishing until I had a near week of time out. It seems like poor Paris and Lorelai have been neglected lately, and this seems to be a fun way to get those two ladies together, while also pushing away most of what I loathed about the cursed final season, such as the new 'brain trust' forgetting about all the supporting characters the staff had built up over six years before, and pretty much treating Paris as mere comic relief who had not had a nervous breakdown in season six mined solely for comedy rather than what it was; a girl who lost her parents to greed and a friend who took advantage of her to get the editorship of the paper despite not really deserving it for her semester off.

 Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the years, especially Mieks and Danielle, who really both love Par/Lor. Please review and tell me what you think of this, even if you don't like it.  


* * *

Lorelai wasn't feeling like herself anymore.

Not that she felt disconnected from herself. She was just completely unsure of who she was anymore. Was she still the idealistic girl of fourteen she always thought she was, forever young, always wanting to learn? Or was she the thirty-eight year old innkeeper who had loved and lost...and lost...and, well, was getting to be the Detroit Lioness of Dating?

Luke was now only a friend. She had kept her distance from Christopher since he almost attempted to take advantage of her state when she came up to Boston to talk to someone, an error she had never told anyone. She wasn't sure of herself, but she knew that holding back April for as long as Luke did was unforgivable.

For the last few months she had been throwing herself into the Inn, much to the worry of her best friend. Sookie was troubled as she saw herself leave work before Lorelai, where for many years it was the exact opposite. It would get to near ten at night, she would be ready to go, and there was Lorelai, buried in her work, telling her she would catch a nap on the couch in her office if she had to. The inn was doing very well and for the chef it concerned Sookie that Lorelai became a workaholic to make up for her problems with Luke.

The mother of three began to see the effects first-hand. Lorelai was losing weight, less apt to 'taste' Sookie's meals in order to throw herself into the credit card reports and pursue those who bounced checks just for the want of something to do. She became irritable, tired. With Rory in school more and taking a trip to London over fall break to see her boyfriend, she couldn't even have movie marathons anymore, as her wisecracks would echo through an empty house.

Sookie would spend nights talking to Jackson about her worries, and her husband would assure her that Lorelai would always bounce back. But five months after the breakup, that was not the case in any way.

The readhead was growing deeply concerned as November rolled around and heard the tall brunette fret that her mother was constantly on her about finding someone to at least date for the upcoming holidays, but she had no interest in doing so. "I'm just going to end up with my heart broken," she told her matter-of-factly. "I'll just keep my mother off my ass for the holidays and we can get back to normal."

She knew there was no way Lorelai would be back to 'normal' unless there was some intervention on her part. In the days of the Independence Inn if Lorelai felt a little mopey something could come to cheer them up eventually.

But at this time of year with both of them partners in the Dragonfly with the few limited indoor weddings they could get? Sookie knew as a businesswoman that Lorelai had to cheer up at the peril of the business.

The woman tried to figure out what to do over a week, pouring her mind over for ideas. She didn't want to get something physical, but she knew that there was one thing that brought Lorelai out, always.

Socialization. Business school had been a fun time for Lorelai and she felt challenged by the experience, coming out better for it. She loved making the friends she'd still see every few weeks in Hartford at a local coffee shop. It was good for her to get out of the craziness of Stars Hollow and Sookie knew it was enriching for the woman.

But her mind kept getting struck on something else. When Lorelai was still a maid and Sookie an apprentice to the head chef at the Independence in their early twenties they would talk about their childhoods, and one thing Lorelai mentioned stuck out.

She loved being an artist. She told Sookie of spending hours in her art class at Hillside Academy feeling creative and being happy in there, drawing or sketching, and painting. She eventually fell out of it because of Emily haranguing her for pursuing what she called 'an idle activity with no chance of advancement', while to Christopher the act of art wasn't as cool as racing his Camaro down Route 5.

"I regret that I didn't go deeper into it," Lorelai said, sighing in regret. "I made up for it by excelling in crafts and home economics. My sewing and all that. But there's nothing like feeling black pencil lead all over your fingers 'cause you're going over this thing you've been trying to draw perfectly. If I ever had the time to do it again, I would take it up in a heartbeat."

As Sookie recalled the conversation, she was at her kitchen table with a bunch of copies of the _New Haven Advocate_ Jackson had picked up in order to carve Davey and Martha's pumpkins. Notably thrifty, Jackson had told his wife that he would rather use a free paper to cut them over than support the local gossip-happy _Gazette_ , even to carve pumpkins over.

While Jackson was at the pumpkin patch, Sookie stayed behind for a well-deserved few hours of quiet time. The chef busied herself by cleaning the kitchen, then draping the newspaper over the table. She had no interest in what was in the paper since she was no longer 21 and certainly not into the bands the kids in New Haven liked. Long weekends spent just going to concerts or bar-hopping were now definitely not allowed for the renowned chef in her late thirties.

As she laid out the last of the papers over the table, her eyes caught on something. She didn't know why, but she suddenly found herself entranced by an ad on one of the pages. Not because it was big and huge, beckoning her to holiday savings on a Chevy Tahoe. Instead, a figure that was drawn was reproduced in soybean newsprint, wrapped around a box.

She stopped to read the text, and where in any other circumstance she might have ignored it, Sookie hummed in excitement as her interest was piqued at the subject of the ad;

_Looking to expand your inspiration and find new friends in a calm and relaxed setting? The New Haven Workshop for the Creative Arts is now taking students for their new class, 'Introductory Figure Drawing' with Eleanor Sandberg, an acclaimed teacher from New York. This thirteen-week class will test your creativity and give you a new insight on how the human body is portrayed and why it is a work of art. Most materials included; inquire further details via our website._

__Interested, she ripped the ad off the page and headed to her kitchen laptop which contained her library of recipes. She opened her browser and Googled the school's name to be taken to their website, where she read more details about the class. Everything seemed great about it, but what got to her was the setting.

_As our building was formerly a New Haven Police precinct house converted into a school for adults, our setting is much different from a usual figure drawing class. Where other schools surround the drawing subject with the students and possibly would make them feel uncomfortable, we use what had been the building's former interrogation room, which like the main classroom has been remodeled to be a comforting place to model. With the model staring at their own reflection in the mirrored glass rather than other students, this class provides a unique setting for a figure drawing class not found in any other school in New England. The focus thus is on the drawing techniques themselves as taught by Ms. Sandberg, rather than the focus of placing a model in a setting where they are front and center rather than the craft being taught._

__"Hmmm..." Sookie had never heard of such a class, but it was definitely unique. She could see Lorelai being much more comfortable in a class like this where she could make a few joking asides without insulting the model themselves. That meant Lorelai could make some new friends and gain more skill that she could use, maybe in wedding settings and become her happy old self again.

She scrolled down a little more for the dreaded part of the class; the cost. She closed her eyes and wondered if it was something that would not only be a good gift, but not crimp her wallet and deny Davey his Tickle Me Whatever at Christmastime. She opened her eyes...

_The class is $500 regularly. However with early registration for our classes staring in December, there will be a 25% discount for early registrants..._

__"$375?" Sookie was a little shocked at the figure. But she knew she could do it. Not only would it get Lorelai out of her blahs, but maybe, just maybe it would make Lorelai happy again and get her out of her Luke funk.

She had no idea before then what to get Lorelai. But by the time Jackson came home she had received an email from the Workshop thanking her for her payment and that they would send Lorelai a gift package as soon as Sookie wanted it sent out.

"I really hate to do this, Lor," she told herself. "But you need to get yourself back out there, girl. And this is something you'll have fun with, if not to have laughs about funny looking penises." Blushing from saying the word she closed out the window, wondering how her best friend would react when she gave her the gift over Thanksgiving.  


* * *

"Damn it! Why did you have to screw this up for me so much?"

Paris Gellar was frustrated. Now that she was fully on her own, things were not, in a word, 'good' in any way. Since she had lost financial support no thanks to her mother actually listening to the bozo who told her she was within her constitutional rights **not** to pay taxes and convinced her father of the same, Paris had been doing things to keep up with her bills. She was just barely over water, but knew one false move and she would be in a financial hole.

Without Rory's half of the rent and utilities she would be dead. She was down to nothing but broadcast cable, did homework by candlelight and wore multiple sweaters to keep herself warm. Any way she could save a dime was enough to keep her solvent. The tutoring service she started helped, but she knew that it wouldn't be enough to be a career, so she took a couple of jobs at Yale's library, shelving books and scanning items in order to keep all her bills paid.

But she had just received her second semester tuition bill. Everything she would do, would not be enough to pay it. She was still stuck with the yoke of her formerly large income defining to the feds what her tuition could be, and she was determined that she would do anything before she would be stuck with a student loan until it was absolutely necessary, and hopefully in a year or so she could get at her protected trust early and get back on track.

Everything about her life right now wasn't good. Doyle had gotten a job offer for _The Oklahoman_ writing about sports that he would have been stupid to pass up, as it offered great opportunities for advancement. Thus the relationship she had with him for a year was gone, though on good terms as he moved to Norman to write about the Sooners. Rory wasn't there more often than not, or buried in her laptop or phone texting and Skyping Logan non-stop. She couldn't stand her studies any longer and was looking for any way to make her ends meet to get her last year of undergraduate studies paid for.

Paris had grabbed a copy of the _Advocate_ , a paper she loathed as a competitor to the _Daily News_ , but now was finding a lifeline to hopefully finding a job which didn't humiliate her. The last words she ever wanted to utter were "Welcome to McDonalds, this is Paris. May I take your order, please?"

She browsed through most of the ads, finding most of the jobs beneath her or just too physical. She knew she could handle factory work but that she would likely be stuck on the assembly line based on her short structure, something she didn't want to end up on.

With a furrowed brow she went through them all, until her eyes caught an ad off to the side with a figure. She read through the ad, seeing it was about figure drawing, something she wasn't interested in.

Well, not the class itself. She would never have the patience to draw a human figure and saw herself being either restless or using an eraser to finesse her drawing until the paper was frayed through.

But she read through the other part of the ad and found herself piqued.

_Models who are taken for this class will receive fair compensation for their services, around $100 per session. As we have several sessions on several evenings you will work consistently with one class over a thirteen week period._

__Soon she was reading further on the website, concerned about how she would be seen as a model, and read through the description.

_We strive to provide a safe and relaxed environment for our models. Despite our unique glassed-off setting where you will not hear any input from the classroom, we do screen out and will suspend any student who is not in the class in a serious manner. The most important thing is that we are not looking for a 'perfect beauty'; applications from professional models will not be accepted. If you have any piercings or tattoos we do encourage you to apply as the human body to Ms. Sandberg is just another canvas, and provides a challenge to our students to work into their assignments._

__She spent all night perusing all of the various requirements to apply, including an application and pictures. She walked around the empty apartment, feeling unsure of herself and wondering if somehow she was demeaning herself in the name of tuition money.

But Paris could think of worst ways to pay her bill. This was $1,300 of guaranteed income that she could put right in and pay Yale with. The Workshop was also a quality outfit, having been around for forty years without any problems to speak of beyond the usual spattering of unaccredited teachers that plagued these kinds of schools. But she had remembered that the _Daily News_ profiled Ms. Sandberg a few years back and found her work and teaching style to be second to none.

She looked herself in the mirror after closing all the blinds and undressing, taking a hard look at herself.

"I look worn out," she told herself, looking at her naked form in the mirror. The slim form she had for a long time from the diet her mother suggested during Chilton senior year had long disappeared, and her womanly form had come back all over again. Her hips were wide, while her cheeks took that deep russet color she knew was unique to her genetics. She felt her eyes weigh down a little from exhaustion as she ran her fingers along the curvature of her breasts.

She moaned, knowing they were so tender and unique. She had been taught by Sharon to be ashamed of her breasts and hide them from the world for years. When she could buy $300 cashmere sweaters and $150 turtlenecks to slim her figure down, that was quite easy.

No longer was that the case. Her wardrobe had become much different in intervening years, out of pure necessity. Going down to Target and Wal-Mart from J. Crew and Macy's forced her to look more at lighter sweaters and t-shirts, and Lorelai teaching her that Goodwill was not a word of shame had given her a reality check she so desperately needed. She had to show off her breasts a little more in her outfits, if only because she couldn't pay more for bulk any longer.

She was just now growing to love her body in its imperfect state, moles, freckles and all. If it wasn't for Asher Fleming, she knew she would still be hiding in those large sweaters, shy as could be.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she knew that she needed to get out and prepare for the real world, and get over some of her insecurities about herself. She had changed. Paris wasn't a pushover any longer, but she also was growing to have a heart now.

 _Besides, it can't hurt on the resume_ , she thought to herself wryly. _And I'm not going to ever see anybody in this class. It is a perfect class for me; I can be as anonymous as possible. Maybe I can even convince them to use a false name so nobody knows I'm spending some of my nights in an old police station being a sketch subject._

 __She thought for a couple more hours, but soon was sending out to the Workshop an application back via email, along with a few shots of herself sent in a ZIP file.

"And hey," she told herself, "if I don't get accepted, it's fine." She went to bed, content to not think about it unless they called back at all, which her bitter side thought would never happen.  


* * *

It had been near Thanksgiving when Sookie received the confirmation that Lorelai would be enrolled in the class. The waiting had been to get models and classes organized so that everyone who filed for the three days of three classes each (afternoon, early evening, late evening) would get the timeslot and day they desired. Sookie chose the Thursday 8pm class so that Lorelai would be able to start her weekend and have a night to herself without having to deal with Emily or any of her other stresses.

The new month of November had brought the innkeeper into an even deeper ennui. Her mother had attempted to set her up on a couple of dates which had failed miserably as the men didn't meet any kind of standards she wanted. Rory was actually considering a move to London to work for _The Guardian_ to satisfy Mitchum's want for Logan to stay overseas, no matter her wishes that the girl would stop living for just a man. She had finished up the decoration plans for the Inn for the holidays on the evening Sookie invited her over for a dinner as again Jackson gave her a break to pick out a turkey a few days before the holiday. Thankfully her veto meant poor Davey and Martha would only see their father choose a fresh turkey at the Trader Joe's in Hartford rather than his original plan of choosing one still living at a farm north of Norfolk.

Sookie ordered a pizza from Joe's and caught up with Lorelai about her life, seeing that the tall brunette was deeply worried about everything. The Inn was doing well and her bills were being paid. Everything else surrounding her life was adding pressure, however. Lack of dates, daughter gone, and a lack of anything fun unless it involved a peanut-shaped TiVo remote in her fingers catching up on _Will & Grace_. Lorelai was not herself any longer, and Sookie needed to change that somehow.

After the women had shared a couple of MGD's between them, Sookie suddenly perked up. "Lorelai, I have something for you. I'll be right back."

The innkeeper was curious as to what her best friend would want to give her. It wasn't even Christmas yet, or even Black Friday. She began to peel the label of her bottle, sad about the state of her life. _I'm 38 and what am I? A single woman who just has nothing going on_. She looked around the room until the cheerful chef came back in.

"Now I know it isn't Christmas yet, but this is something that I couldn't have gotten you then. I thought you'd like to try this." Sookie handed her over a large wrapped package, nearly flat but not quite, nearly in the shape of a laptop. "Open it up!" Sookie's enthusiasm was nearly overbearing as she giggled happily as Lorelai gave her a side-eyed glance, wondering what had gotten into her friend/business partner.

"OK, I guess." She noticed the striped wrapping and began to feel it on each side to guess what it was. She couldn't make it out however, beyond the fact it was some kind of paper product from the sound it made when she knocked on it. She began to unwrap it, but took one guess about what it could be.

"Sook, do I really need a ten year desk calendar?" The redhead laughed at her guess. "Because if it's that, I'm going to OfficeMax to declare them insane for selling one." She peeled back more of the wrap until a blank piece of cardboard appeared before her.

"Turn it around," Sookie encouraged, as Lorelai narrowed her eyes. She didn't know what she could be talking about until she noticed the spiral on the side. She turned it around.

It was something that was just a little smaller than a newspaper. She turned it around and then...

"A...sketch pad?" She looked at the black 11"x14" book with 100 pages and wondered what was going on. She then found another gift lightly taped to the cover of the pad. "And a...five pack of charcoal pencils, along with a gum eraser?" Lorelai was utterly confused by what was presented to her. "Hon, did you have a few beers before you came here? I'm not an architect."

"It's part of my early Christmas gift to you," she said brightly. "There's something else, look behind the cover."

"OK...I swear, this is confusing." She opened up the book to find a white envelope marked 'for Lorelai' taped to it. Pulling it off, she looked at Sookie, feeling odd for having such a gift early. "I really don't know what you could be doing."

She looked down at the back of the envelope and peeled it open with her index finger, ripping the surface slightly before revealing the contents inside. Two sheets of paper were folded in and she pulled them out, wondering what to do. Sookie prompted her to look at the first sheet of paper, where she had written out a note about the reasoning for the gift. Asking for it to be read aloud, Lorelai complied with the request and did so.

_Lorelai,_

_As your best friend, I've noticed you've been burying yourself in your work to get over Luke. While I'm glad you're here running a great business, we don't need you here all the time. Tobin shouldn't have to be coming in as you leave, for instance. And I know you're still down about Luke. I'm still down about him, but I'm also concerned you're shutting yourself in because Rory's gone and you think there's nothing to do but work._

_You are a great woman when you're out there, talking to people. Not just because they're guests of the Inn, but because you like them. You used to be that way; you haven't been lately._

_So I've been searching for a way you can do that. I took my time thinking about this until I remembered how you loved sketching in high school, how you felt about drawing and that it was a fun hobby for you. Something you seemed to have pushed aside, but I think it's still there, lurking in that spark field you call a brain._

_I know this may feel like too much. That you think I should've just gotten you something else. But I miss my bubbly friend, cheering up everybody and swiping samples of my dishes and desserts. I love you, Lorelai, but girl, you have to get out there, and soon._

_So here's the deal; Thursday nights, you're taking off. No exceptions; Michel is going to work on those nights whether he likes it or not. You're going to have fun, make new friends and hopefully you'll feel like your old self in no time because you're gonna meet a lot of new people through this and get to play with this stuff too. For the next thirteen weeks, I expect you to let go. This will mean;_

_-No phone calls_  
-No email  
-No worries 

_And this means you turn your BlackBerry **off**. I want you to remember; you're my friend and I want you to be happy. Hopefully this will help you remember who you used to be._

_Love you, hon,_

_Sookie._

__After a pause, Lorelai wondered what was going on. "Wait, you want me to take off work? For...drawing?" Confused, she wondered what was going on. "What am I going to draw? I know I loved it, but that was twenty years ago. I--"

"Look at the other piece of paper," she said, interrupting Lorelai. The brunette moved Sookie's note behind the other page to read what it contained. Scanning through it she made out the basics and sighed.

"You got me a thirteen week figure drawing class at the Workshop in New Haven?" She stared pensively at her friend. "I can already draw. I don't need a class."

"But you're probably a little rusty," she argued, knowing some of the rough sketches Lorelai did during the Inn remodel. "I'm not implying you're bad at drawing, just you need to have something to occupy you that isn't you stuck alone again at home."

Lorelai shook her head furiously. "I have plenty of things to keep me occupied. I've got to look over Christmas, I have Hanukah week coming up, not to mention New Year's. I won't have time--"

"You will have time," Sookie insisted. "Tobin is taking extra hours on Thursdays, along with Michel. They actually insisted on it because you seem to get a little near your fuse towards the end of the week."

Lorelai stared daggers at her friend as Sookie went on. "We are fine. Lorelai, if we weren't fine, you would know. But hon, you have to stop getting all wound up. I know what's going on with Rory, the things with your parents. You need to get away from that crap, even for three hours every week. You can't be acting like you're going for an honorary AARP membership at your age. You're still vital and wonderful, and your life is not even half over yet."

The innkeeper shook her head. "OK...well, what I'll do is, I'm going to get a--"

"NO REFUNDS on the class!" Sookie shook her head. "You are going, whether you like it or not."

"Well then you go," Lorelai shot back. "You bought the class, and--"

"I can't draw anything! I swear if I sent the school on TV a sketch of their turtle with the beanie back they'd wonder if there was a screw loose in my head. Besides, I'm married! I can't be going off to drawing classes gawking at male members and boobs, but you have plenty of time!" She set her hand on Lorelai's shoulder. "Come on, give it at least three or four weeks? If you don't like it, then you can ditch it. But I got this for you as a friend, out of love, and a need to see you have something to make you smile. Or someone." The chef looked at her friend, frowning. "Come on, I know you loved the class and I saw some of your stuff when you moved to the house. You were amazing. And you do better gown designs than Soozie's over on Locust even though you have no wedding experience whatsoever."

"Well..." Lorelai felt her stomach clench. It had been a long time since she did much drawing that was just for fun. All of her sketching was of dresses and the like for her sewing, and draft plans for the Inn a few years back. She knew she was good at it, though her sketching skills were a little more harried as the years went on.

 _It...could be good for me_ , she thought to herself. _I have been a bit focused on work lately, even though we're at a good profit. Great one, in fact._ Already her cash reserves were in the $50k range, not bad for a two year-old business, and though she tried to avoid her parents when possible, the various LLC's and Delaware corporations her father and Luke had helped her set up had sorted her financial affairs to a place where she felt a little comfortable. Even if there was a slowdown from her numbers in previous years, it hardly was enough to make any kind of dent. _We're doing well. Just fine. I have to stop fretting about every single thing about the business. That's why Sookie is there to be a partner, to check things over. I have to include her._

 __She also knew drawing was fun. She loved to do it, and to have a refresher course on the art of it was sure to be a help. She needed something to do with Rory gone, and channel surfing could fill only so much time.

"If I do this, no distractions? I'm going to come back on Friday morning and all is well?"

"It will be fine," Sookie assured her. "I just want you to get out there and meet new people, even if they don't have the same interests. You'll have fun, and you get to see some cute guys for sure."

"Or women." Lorelai looked over the sheet again. "You know according to this it's gender-neutral, right? I may end up drawing a lady."

"Hey, I just picked out the class. What you do with it, it's not my business." Smiling at her friend, Sookie knew she probably had her ready to go for it. "So, how does it sound?"

Lorelai stayed silent for a moment, looking over the wonderful equipment her best friend provided. She couldn't deny that it was a gift with lots of thought behind it, and much better than the neglected kitchenware usually given by Sookie around the holidays.

"I...I guess I'll be getting to know the human form closely this winter," she concluded, before bringing Sookie into a hug. "Thank you for the classes. Even if they aren't the best, I'm sure I'll find a use for them for sure, even if it's just to meet people."

"That's all I want for you, Lor, to be happy." Patting her slim friend on the back, the chef hoped at the end of the thirteen weeks she might be talking to a new guy for Lorelai, and someone much less stressed than she was now.

 _Please work,_ she pleaded within her mind. _She deserves to smile_. The women released from their hug and went on to talk more about the course, Lorelai getting more excited by it as Sookie went on.  


* * *

Paris couldn't believe it had come to this. She remembered back to the day of her Harvard rejection as the worst day of her life. Then the reading of the note from her mother which could condense down to 'Sorry we think taxes suck, fix our mess, love your parents'. Then Rory dumping school, then Doyle's departure.

Of all the days though, Asher Fleming still left a space in her heart unfilled. Whatever she had with Doyle, it never could compare to the loss of her beloved professor. She still cried over the loss of him and despite all she did to replace that feeling, the day of his death still left her in a state of shock that she had never recovered from. Especially when her attempt to honor the man was reduced to the same level as a kegger, Paris knew she could not love as deep ever again.

Now she was truly alone. Her nanny was deep in retirement, her children and grandchildren spread through the country. Her own relatives associated the tax problems of her parents with her by proxy, despite her insistence on getting her payments all in early in January. Rory was gone, treating their friendship like a nuisance.

The only person in the world she couldn't get mad at was Lorelai Gilmore. She still found time to talk to the woman at the Inn about her problems every two weeks, to have heart-to-hearts with the innkeeper. However Lorelai's own work put a crimp in those talks, and when Olivia and Lucy became Rory's friends, she felt no connection at all with either girl and found their obsession with her a little bit in the realm of _Single White Female_ territory. Stephanie also proved to be someone she couldn't befriend at all.

But things were getting somewhat better. She had expected outright rejection by the Workshop and put it at the back of her mind, only to be surprised by a voicemail from Eleanor Sandberg when she came out of class a few days before Thanksgiving.

"Miss Gellar, I was planning on emailing you, but that might have seemed a little impersonal," she started, before going on further. "You must join the class! I have looked at your form, your figure and looked you up online. I think you are a perfect candidate for the class. You're focused, probably can stay still for extended periods of time, and I think you definitely have a figure meant for further study."

Sitting down on a bench, she felt a little more confident about her self-image. "Really, I get submissions from so many men and women, but it was brave of someone like you to put yourself up for all these weeks of standing still and what else comes with this. Frankly that you're not a stick figure is heartening. I think you do have it, though I would have one small issue; maybe look a little less sad and get out there and give yourself some sun and open up your pores? You look a little down. Otherwise, let me know if you're interested."

Paris was. She knew nobody would care, and the setting meant she would be shielded from having to talk to anyone. It was simple money to make, and all she had to do was bring down her liquid intakes before each class so an inconvenient bathroom break would be no factor. It would all be easy to do...

Except she knew Eleanor was right. Years ago she may have torn into the woman for attacking her for being insular and quiet.

"She is correct though," she told herself, "I have to get out there, look as good as I can for thirteen weeks of this, even longer. I have to do what I can to fix myself."

Which lead her to the door of someone she used to loathe years ago. For her peppiness and need to rub in her face in her sex life, she hated her.

But damned if what she did didn't lead to great results. A few days after, she was at the door of the apartment of one Janet Billings, her athletic roommate from freshman year who she kept up with on her Facebook page. One of the first to keep up with the service, Paris loved using it to eavesdrop on others, though she was relieved Logan couldn't compute to save his life so he hadn't joined, while Rory was of the type that even putting her name online would give her negative attention. Paris didn't care, and humbled, had friended both Janet and Tanna online. Tanna was doing wonderfully, finding her niche pursuing her science degree and falling out of the nervous habits she had before turning eighteen, while Janet...

The door opened, revealing the blonde. "Paris, what are you doing here?" Janet was surprised to see her, content to talk to the girl far away from where she could yell at her about her life choices.

"Umm, I kind of need a little help," she admitted. "Are you still into cross-training and jogging?"

"Of course I am." She guided Paris into the house. "What's going on?"

"Well, please don't tell anyone this. Not a soul. It can't even be mentioned on Facebook, because if it will, I don't know how anyone will react."

She took a breath and described her situation in full to Janet. Her finances, the fracture with Rory, everything she could. She wondered how Janet would react to her modeling and tried not to be specific, but as she went into the description, she was interrupted.

"The Workshop?" Janet crossed her hands across her chest. "Oh yeah, I did that last year, just for fun. It was an awesome way to spend idle time in the winter when I can't get out there to train. It's safe and I'd recommend it to any brave woman."

"Wait, you did that?" Paris was surprised. "But you've got a full ride, you don't need it for tuition."

"Might be true, but it adds to the resume. Being an athlete I was a natural to get in, but there were plenty of other body forms in there too. You're going to be perfect."

"So, hold on." The smaller blonde held up her hand. "Why didn't you say anything about it online? You're an open book otherwise."

"Well, one thing; who knows when they'll open up Facebook to everyone? I don't want my parents to know how I spend my free time. Besides, it would be a little awkward to say I met my boyfriend there." Paris's attention was distracted by a waving hand, where a curly-haired young man in black plastic glasses glanced them both.

"Hey!"

"Hi." Paris waved back, surprised by the intellectual looking man.

"That's Kevin," Janet said, introducing her boyfriend. "And yes, he isn't the sporting type. After that football player you hated, I realized that the gene pool and my bedroom habits couldn't accommodate another athlete, so I stayed single a couple of years. He's a good guy, did wonderful sketches with me, and at the end of the class when I got to come in the room, we hit it off immediately. A few weeks, and...yeah, he's awesome."

"He does look nice." Paris smiled back at Kevin, who she knew somehow she could trust, unlike Finn and Colin. "You've been doing well then?"

"Could be better, but I can't complain. But I know I can't say the same for you." Janet opened up her arms to a girl she formerly considered the enemy. "Sorry about your parents and Rory. They've done pretty shitty things to you. Come here."

"Umm, OK." Paris was still a bit hug-phobic and though she was leery, she let the taller woman wrap around her, slowly encouraged as Janet told her to unclasp her fists. "I'm sorry if--"

"Paris, don't think about apologizing. You've done all the right things, lived your life right and done all you can. And for what?" The runner broke apart, beginning to express her opinions. "I liked you much more than Rory after that first year. At least you had the balls to stand up to me. That damned girl with her affairs and Logan...fuck, I hate him. You know his buddies made fun of Kevin for his glasses? He can't help it; he's got that thing Lisa Loeb has where he can't wear contacts."

"Not a surprise. She's out in London right now, probably losing more of the resolve I told her to have." Paris sat down, feeling a lot less threatened. "So the reason I'm here is...I'm kind of isolated in my apartment, and Eleanor kind of hinted in her message to me that I could stand to have some sunlight and such."

"AKA, exercise." Janet smiled at her. "You want to get out there and make up a new you with the modeling thing to impress Sandberg a bit more than you did with your pics."

"And the people drawing me behind that glass. I don't want to be the sad and bitchy Paris any more. And with Rory becoming the exact society girl I hate and loathe, I think I need to get out there. Stop hanging with poisonous and weird people."

"Well, I don't know anyone like that. I'm also toned as hell and happy as can be." She grasped Paris's hands and smiled. "You know if I get you on a regimen, it means 5am wakeups. No more frozen foods and coffee, and damned hard work. I'm not going to try to change the shape of your body, which is fine as it is, but tone it more, get you ready for miles of running a week, even in freezing weather. Though not right away, of course."

"Of course." Paris felt ready. "And I do have workout gear, my nanny bought it for me years ago. Just never got around to wearing it."

"Paris, just remember it this way. You walked a college-like campus at Chilton for about four years. That's about two miles every day, for 180 days per year. You can do this, look good, and knock the socks off those sketchers behind that window. And once you get out in the working world, having a killer figure and wit? It's going to get you more places than being all _Quincy M.E._ all the time." She narrowed her eyes, staring down Paris. "And yes, this means working out on my exercise ball."

"The damned exercise ball. Man, I hate that thing." She moved her gaze into the corner, where the blue ribbed sphere stared her down like it wanted a showdown. Jokingly she pointed her index and middle fingers at her eyes, then towards the ball. "I'm coming for you."

"Now that's the Paris Gellar I knew in freshman year!" She clapped her hands. "The one that took charge and scored Fleming beyond her assigned semester. Secretly, I did find it hot, but back then, we were oil and water."

"We still are to a point." Paris smiled. "But if I can get along with you all over again, anything is possible. Maybe...I'll find a man who's just right even with what I want."

"Or a woman." Paris scoffed, but Janet reminded her off the spring break kiss. "Come on, I know you hated me but wanted me in bed at the same time. You're the very definition of pansexual."

Paris nodded. "That's kind of true. I'm happy with anyone as long as they love me. I just haven't found that person yet."

"See? If I can find love with a dork like Kevin, you can be happy with a man or woman, age be damned." Paris felt relieved by how it was going, and that the past was indeed just the past between her and Janet. "Now let's get you into fighting and posing shape. You have two weeks before your first class, right?"

"You really think I can get enough sun in the next two weeks? It's Connecticut in late fall."

"I might need the help of a tanning bed, but I think we can do it. But first..." She grabbed her phone. "I'm calling Tanna and her guy over. You seriously need socialization, Paris."

"Tanna has a boyfriend?"

"Oh, yes." Kevin spoke up, getting off the couch. "You would never think he was a molecular biologist in the making. And I heard about you from Janet; withdrawn student, near valedictorian?"

"Yeah?"

"Join the club." He pointed to himself, shaking his head. "Fourth place at Exeter, class of '03, rejected by Dartmouth. I saw the big C-SPAN speech too, fucking hurt to see you like that. You're a good girl, but hanging out with the Lice & Dork Brigade certainly doesn't help anyone at all."

"I wanted the dumbass banned from the _Daily News_ , but my ex had his balls stolen by Huntzberger. Couldn't do a damned thing."

Talking to Tanna on the phone, Janet yelled out from the other room. "That paper he and Rory put out after your breakdown was crap! They had no right to take your title at all!"

Paris shook her head. "Janet, you don't--"

"It's true," Kevin said with full honesty. "They didn't support you and made you feel like an ass. Janet's a taskmaster but I know she would've cottoned to your system. It's just those people you had to stand in the newsroom didn't know regimen at all. Their loss. And how Rory pushed back in after the sabbatical I'll never figure out."

"Wow, it seems like I grew my own little fanclub in the last two years without knowing it." Laughing heartily, Paris knew she had found a new home with Janet and Kevin. "It's not that I hate Rory...I just hate L&DB Rory. Her mother has thankfully kept her perspective."

"Oh yeah, I still love Lorelai. I miss her sleepovers! Oh, Tanna does too!" Kevin looked at them both funny.

"A mom?" Kevin shook his head. "You girls are odd."

"Lorelai's a cool mom, Kevin," Paris said, defending her. "She's only 36, and awesome. She took me to my first rock and roll show with the Bangles, which I really wish I was making up, but yeah, she introduced me to actual pop culture."

Kevin smiled, happy with his new girl friend. "I think the both of us are going to get along just fine, Paris Gellar. Platonically, of course."

Paris held up her hand. "Very platonic. I have one rule in friendship; don't steal boyfriends. Thank God Asher was divorced!"

Later on as the night went on, Paris had caught up fully with Tanna and Janet, along with getting to know Kevin and Marcus, Tanna's boyfriend who made Paris laugh about their stark contrast, the under 5' scientist and former child prodigy dwarfed by the 6' bear of a guy. Free to not have to censor herself about Rory and finding excitement in the workout plan Janet was building with her, which included easygoing calisthenics and a weekly yoga class Yale held which Paris was surprised to learn was free with the use of her student ID card, the petite blonde knew she would begin to find her stride.

She was also surprised to find out that Tanna thought of her in a sexual manner, a little bit of champagne shared between the five loosening her lips. "Yes I did," the girl said, her squeak of a voice never changing. "I thought one day you'd push me up a wall and have your way with me!"

"Oh my God!" Paris shook her head. "That would be a little scary!"

"Well you were the first girl I saw naked," she said, stating in a deeply complimentary manner. "Until you got outta that shower I was virginal, but when I saw those curves and ass dripping wet--"

"Marcus! Tell your girl to back off!" Paris shrieked, blushing deeply and laughing out loud. "She's been watching too much _Friends_!"

"Her new addiction is _Buffy_ , and she just discovered _The Shield_ and the wonders of a good f-bomb." The beefy boy gripped the shoulders of his curly-haired girlfriend. "Her parents back in Colorado Springs would be chagrined to learn that their home-schooled girl is a true woman who now loves her TV."

"And piercings." Paris noted the multiple jewels and rings lining the shell of Tanna's left ear, along with a diamond stud on the right side of her nose. "Someone finally grew out of her shell."

"You helped that. If not for you, Paris, I'd be back in Colorado a long time ago, probably at one of those crazy church schools. You taught me to stand up for myself, and Janet taught me to be confident. I...I might still stutter a little here and there, but...but I'm happy with my life now. I got out of that dorm a better girl, and when I went back home after that year..." She paused for a moment. "I actually....I broke things off with my parents because they wanted me to be more 'normal'. They hated that I knew about things outside of the home-school garage and had regular college experiences, and they thought I was crazy for not registering as a Republican. I haven't been back since then. Thank God my ride here is full-freight so they couldn't do a thing about it or stop me from going back. I missed a lot in my youth."

"I'm glad you got out then. And I'm being honest. You always looked timid and shaky that first year, Tan. Now..." Paris took in a deep breath. "If you'll let me, I would like to be your friend. Not a bitch, but a friend to you."

Sighing, the small girl happily bounced in her seat. "If you don't mind me rambling about anime and sitcoms, I can definitely be your friend."

"Just don't get her started on hentai," Janet demurred. "When she discovered it...oh man. Who knew Tanna Schrick was a feminist?"

"It's insulting to women and--"

"Yes, we know, Tan, it's a terrible artform," Kevin said in response. "I'm sure you and Par will talk for hours about it."

"It's a date," Paris said, smiling happily at her former roommates. "So..." A pause. "You have piercings. Any tattoos?"

"I could share them, but they're in places Janet won't like Kevin seeing." She winked at Paris, who yelped in shock while Janet rolled her eyes. Laughing, Paris knew she had found her home away from home.

"This is much, much more fun than hearing about a Lame & Debt Bro-gade prank. God, I can't believe I'm saying this...but I missed you both."

Even if she would never cross the threshold of the Workshop in a last-second case of nerves, Paris knew she was already happier than she had been since her parents fled. Spending the rest of the night drinking and talking with her new friends, Paris knew the next four months were going to be the adventure of a lifetime before she had to head out into the real world.

She also had to admit she always saw Tanna, who loved _Dungeons & Dragons_ with a vengeance, having a dragon tattoo on her hipbone, and was surprised at how the silly little girl who was scared of her three years ago was so boldly happy in front of her, showing how life changed someone timid into a strong woman in a small amount of time.

Before she had laid eyes on the ad, she knew she was more than unhappy. The next few months were going to be a bitch on her body, and she wondered how many people in the class she was in would make fun of her body.

At this moment, she didn't care though. Bouncing drunkenly on Janet's exercise ball as a tipsy Tanna tried to make her and Kevin guess a movie title which somehow corresponded to _Silence of the Lambs_ but Paris couldn't figure out how Tanna furiously pointing to her thigh with a finger to her mouth meant that, she knew she was ready for what was sure to be much more fun than sulking and finding herself moderating Rory and Logan's constant fights.

"I'm ready to get naked," she declared as Janet and Tanna toasted her later on in the evening before the self-admitted fifth wheel and the foursome flopped onto the couch to enjoy making fun of edited _Goodfellas_ on TNT, Paris happily ignorant that Rory was dragging herself back into Logan's London flat after a long and draining night in the West End watching him openly flirt with everything on heels.  


* * *

**  
__  
** Two weeks later...

****

**__**"OK, I admit I'm excited." Lorelai had been escorted to New Haven by Sookie, who insisted on driving her down in her SUV, afraid Lorelai would skip out on her. Thankfully it was proven untrue as Lorelai practiced sketching out on one of Rory's holiday Barbie and Ken dolls up in the attic to have an idea of where to go over the last week or so, but Sookie was taking no chances. "I can't wait to get in there and get cracking on drawing dirty things."

"And that's why I got you in this, girl. You're going to be happy. It's hard work, but I know you can do it." Pulling into the parking lot, Sookie smiled at her friend, who was nervous, but ready to go. The chill of the late November air was in the air, and she was glad to see Lorelai at least a little more cheered up. "Promise me you'll tell me everything about tonight?"

"Everything?" Lorelai's smile wrinkled. "Even if I see someone hung like a horse?"

"Absolutely, everything. Well, as much as I can hear that doesn't violate my vows to Jackson." She giggled happily. "Now you have lots of fun, and I expect to see you with a nice hand cramp tomorrow!"

Lorelai put her hand to her mouth. "Dirty!" She hugged Sookie close and grinned, getting out of the car. "I will have fun in there, I promise!" Sookie saw Lorelai off, watching her walk in the building before driving off to Whole Foods to get a few things for the Inn.

"I really hope for the best," she told herself, impressed that she actually was able to get Lorelai a perfect Christmas gift. "I'm sure this is going to be fun for her...and very interesting."

When Lorelai got to the door, she was surprised to see Janet and Tanna in the hallway talking. Going up to them she re-introduced herself.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" Janet perked up as Tanna brought her hands behind her back. "Are you here for a class?"

"We're not. We were dropping off--" Tanna started to tell Lorelai Paris was there, but suddenly received a jab in her shoulder.

"Yeah, a friend. We brought them here because they didn't have a car and made a quick dinner out of the night before we dropped them off here." She brought a strong gaze down on the curly-haired girl, as if to remind her that Paris didn't want anyone to know she was there. "How are you, Ms. Gilmore?"

The brunette nodded, still down that Rory had dumped both Janet and Tanna as friends the moment the LDB took interest in her. "Great. Actually, my bestie has decided that I should take a class here to get away from the Inn for awhile."

"Yeah, the Dragonfly. I actually went out there during the summer to run the pond and lake. You have a beautiful property out there, Lorelai. From what I heard it was a bramble before the renovation."

"Thank you, Janet." Lorelai brought up the strap on her bag, adjusting it so it didn't slide off. Her gaze fell to Tanna, and the girl's heavily pierced ears. "Someone's a regular at Claire's."

"I actually went to a shop outside of Bridgeport where my boyfriend gets his work. It...it's nice. Very clean. Makes me feel, independent, you know."

"I know the feeling." She remembered back to parent's weekend, where the elder Schricks fit the very definition of 'helicopter parenting'. "I hope you're doing well. I miss seeing you both."

"Maybe we'll see you more," Janet told her, smiling. "So, which class are you taking? Foreign language? Clay modeling? Real estate?"

"Sookie got me a thirteen week class in figure drawing. I'm pretty excited about it."

"Oh...oh yeah." Janet stumbled around, her mind overflowing with possibilities, whereas Tanna suddenly looked like a deer in the headlights. "I...I modeled last year for it. Eleanor Sandberg is great. You're going to have lots of fun in there."

"Aw, man, I missed you?" Lorelai slid up to the suddenly shy athlete, teasing her slightly. "Well, I'm sure whoever I get to draw, they're going to look as lovely as you are." She smiled at the runner and examined her. "I might take you as a template if that's alright."

"Ummm, yeah, that would be fine." Janet took Tanna at the shoulder. "Well, we uh, must be going. Studying to be done. Right Tanna?" Silence. "Right?" Another jab of her elbow, and Tanna slid out of her trance for a moment.

"Yes, gotta go, bye, Ms. Gilmore." Lorelai headed down the hall as Janet and Tanna left the building, both of them surprised and in shock, but Tanna especially.

"Did...did she say...f-f-f-figure drawing?" Tanna panted. "The same as Par is modeling for?"

"Tanna, you have a wonderful boyfriend--"

"But I also think Paris is hot. And Ms. Gilmore. Too much hotness!" She raised her hands. "We can't tell Paris, she'll freak."

"I know! She's behind the glass, this is...it's..." Janet really didn't know how to describe the situation. "Maybe Lorelai won't recognize her. She's tanned and she--"

"Janet, are you kidding, she will know! Paris is a unique snowflake, and she has that cute little neck mark. Once Lorelai sees that she'll know!"

"Don't panic on me, T! Do. Not. Panic." She sat against the building, the scientist feeling overwhelmed by the images filling her brain. "We know one thing; Paris can't be told."

"I know that."

"But..." the pony-tailed runner smiled. "We should keep tabs on Lorelai. How she reacts to the class. Figure out some way to watch how it all goes. For Paris it's just a job, two hours in the drawing room. But for Lorelai, it's something else."

"J, you're talking weird." Tanna wanted to understand. "Ms. Gilmore is just here to learn, maybe she won't care she's drawing Paris."

"Oh, she will. You know how Paris talks about her as 'the woman who didn't leave her', who let her talk at the Inn when Rory left school and her parents fled. There is something there."

"Even if there is, she's half Lorelai's age. There can't be something there when there's nothing to begin with."

"She dated a 60 year-old man, Tanna! To her, Lorelai is young!"

"That's true." Tanna shook her head. "I guess we won't say anything to Par. We want her to come out of her shell, and if she even gets a whiff that Lorelai is on the other side, it's right back to closing herself in."

"And we don't want that." Janet looked at Tanna, who was determined in her decision. "Damn Paris for telling us Lorelai is single."

"Damn them for both being hot." Tanna grumped all the way to the car. "I'm going to be thinking of them a lot."

"Oh God." Janet could only smile as she hoped they wouldn't have to become too involved with Paris and Lorelai in any way.

As Lorelai found the classroom, she wondered what caught Janet and Tanna to be confused all the sudden, but brushed it off, getting her supplies prepared and anticipating what was to come in the next fifteen minutes.

Paris was dressing in her robe, ready to expose herself to a small corner of the world, and hopeful that others would learn from her beauty as they drew her over the next thirteen weeks. She smiled, looking herself over in the mirror, ready to go.

"I'm ready for this," she stated confidently, knowing it was too late to turn back from this point. Having looked over the sketching room she knew that she would be more than protected. With an alias protecting her real name and the probable lack of Yalies in the class, there would be no way for her to be discovered, just like only Janet's closest friends knew about her time at the Workshop.

"I'm ready for this," Lorelai told herself, all of her supplies laid out as she awaited what was to come in her class. _This is going to be interesting_ , she thought to herself, others beginning to filter into the classroom.

Lorelai would not know that in a half-hour, her entire world would shift. Or that her opinion of one Paris Gellar would take a serious shift away from how she knew the girl.  


* * *

**  
_To be continued..._   
**  



	2. Filling in the Blanks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In her first class at the Workshop, Lorelai finds indeed that she can be social like Sookie intended, but finds complications when she finds out who else is sharing it. Meanwhile, Janet and Tanna continue to fret about their unexpected discovery.

**Title: Drawing Attention | Chapter Two | Filling in the Blanks  
Author: **Nate  
 **Pairing:** Paris/Lorelai, other original characters for other established supporting characters, and one original character meant for relationship purposes. Rory/Logan acknowledged but certainly not shipped.  
 **Spoilers:** An alternate take on season seven where Christopher is far away and Luke and Lorelai remain broke up and distant, and Doyle moved from Boston after graduation and Paris is single. Olivia and Lucy aren't mentioned (sorry, Krysten Ritter, I didn't begin to enjoy you until _Apt. 23_ ), and Tanna and Janet are actually acknowledged as still existing.  
 **Rating:** Still R for now (besides artistic nudity, profanity and sensuality, not much here that couldn't go in a TV-PG script.)  
 **Disclaimer:** _Gilmore Girls_ is the property of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, Hofflund-Polone and Warner Bros. Television, despite how much I wanted to start a petition campaign to block David Rosenthal from giving us his version of season seven (how did his Paris scripting end up worse than Daniel's, I ask?). All other trademarks and services are the property of their respective owners. Apologies in advance for any incorrect descriptions of a figure drawing class; I'm going off what I know from other media, and my lack of drawing skills that don't involve maps.  
 **Archiving:** Only where posted. Anyone else, ask first.  
 **Summary:** In her first class at the Workshop, Lorelai finds indeed that she can be social like Sookie intended, but finds complications when she finds out who else is sharing it. Meanwhile, Janet and Tanna continue to fret about their unexpected discovery.  
 **Author's** **Notes:** Well, it looks good for this story. I've gotten good feedback about it so far and I thank everyone who gave me a review and let me know how I was doing. Sorry this has taken so long to get out; the first half of the year was spent dealing with my first move in eighteen years, with fretting about work and finances keeping me from the usual happy bubble that is my writing. But I'm all settled in and I have a bunch of stuff coming out in the next few weeks, some of it hopefully timed for IDF.

I'm going to say this right now; I do know my supporting males aren't as developed as the women, so no need to write me about that. Hopefully though they're better developed than that guy who shall not be named they keep trying to hook Jane Rizzoli with and seemed to get surgery just to get his mack on. I think he needs a cheer adjustment more, personally. As for the image of Ms. Sandberg, I've modeled her to have the looks and mannerisms of Katey Sagal.

Thanks to Mieks for encouraging me on this story. And hopefully my muse lets me get a chapter out to you in the next few weeks rather than months.  


* * *

Lorelai looked around the classroom as she got settled in her spot in the round layout, which brought her just a little right of the center of the room, just perfect enough for her and what was usually a prized drawing spot from her experiences in her art classes at Hillside. She set down her sketching pad and spread everything out, making sure her drawing implements were perfectly tuned to her drawing style and that her erasers were perfectly in reach.

The innkeeper had arrived earlier than the majority of the class, trying to get her bearings. Smiling, she looked over the room. Indeed as described, the former interrogation room window was front and center, the classroom expanded out from what had been backroom storage space in its former life as a police precinct. Thankfully though, the depressing _Law & Order_-esque drab olive décor was long in the past, the classroom itself being painted in a violet shade, with the model's room having a reddish-pink hue along the walls to help the subjects stand out behind the glass.

Lorelai shook her head. She understood how the mirrored glass would work, but it had to be both boring and a little shocking for the model to stare at themselves in the buff for nearly two hours and wondered how they managed to keep settled. She would have to ask Ms. Sandberg how they managed to keep calm, if music was piped in, how they kept from going stir crazy.

Looking down at the canvas she was about to test out one of her charcoal pencils when it slipped out of her fingers and fell to the ground.

"Oh, crap!" Having already gotten somewhat comfortable on her padded drafting stool, Lorelai dreaded having to move and began to slide her legs off the perch...

Only to find a male hand in her sight holding her pencil.

"I think you dropped this." Shaken in surprise, she looked up to find a man with a little stubble and bright hazel eyes staring at her. "Slippery fingers tonight?"

Lorelai laughed slightly, feeling a little nervous as she took the implement. "I...I actually don't draw that much these days. I need to get my 'drawing grip' back." With a smile she looked over at her seat mate, who had the look of that one blonde guy who kept her tuned to _Alias_ even as she was completely lost on the Rambaldi ridiculousness. "My friend...she bought this class as an early Christmas gift. Said I needed to get back out there because I got buried in my business."

The young man nodded, his eyes drawn to the beautiful woman's looks and taken in by a voice that caught him by surprise by the speed at which she let her words out. "Business?"

"I'm an innkeeper in Stars Hollow."

He nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Never heard of it."

"You're among the lucky ones then. Southeastern Litchfield, far west from Bristol."

"Well I'm not really from here; I just moved in from Chicago, Palatine, specifically. I work in telecommunications with AT&T and they're moving in people as they take over more of SNET."

"Ahh, yes, the merger." A smile. "All I'm hoping is I can keep my phone number and my e-mail address after the changeover finishes. Think you can make that happen?"

"I'm not in that division." A pause and a smile. "I'm in business sales, new technology, trying to understand what companies want in the future like video chat and all of that." He held out his hand for Lorelai. "Caleb Brandt."

Lorelai took it and shook it lightly, a bit nervous about meeting someone from outside Connecticut. "I'm Lorelai Gilmore. Never met a Caleb before; you'd expect one to be wearing an old-timey monocle or something."

"My parents were Hassidic and traditional. I had a 'Cal' stage in college, but my headhunter suggested the full name made me sound respected. Worked out pretty good so far, wouldn't you say?"

"I think I would." She licked her lips, willing them to keep wet. "So what's a fancy telecom guy like you doing in a non-telecom place like this?"

"I like to keep my mind occupied by things I find fun. I've wanted to take up drawing but the Learning Annex in Chicago was always too far from the Northwest Suburbs and you know how traffic there can be."

"Oh God, don't give me flashbacks to the 1998 hotel convention I had to go to at McCormick." Before Caleb could realize it, Lorelai was on a rant. "How the hell you people can tolerate the Kennedy and O'Hare I don't know, but I felt like everyone there just was like, 'oh look, there's a lovely woman from a small town. Let us tax her loads and loads of money for getting into the convention hall, for using a taxi, for taking a tour of town, for flying out of here, and to top it off, let's make her feel less human because we assume Connecticut means she's a Red Sox fan even though she has no interest in baseball. Oh, and stick her in epic traffic jams too that took her cab fare to more than her flight cost!'"

Caleb frowned hearing the innkeeper's experience with his hometown. "Not all Chicagoans are like that. Although the horror tales of the Kennedy are yes, true."

"I know. I...just haven't had positive impressions. Love the city, watch your awesome weatherman on WGN talk about mesobars and all that other stuff I don't understand, was a Bulls fan when Jordan was around, and the shopping was amazing. But I would hate to live there all the time." She saw that her first impression may not have come off too well and felt apologetic. "Sorry, it's just--"

"No...no, I'm glad you got it out. We're going to be here for thirteen weeks and we should get along." He bared his teeth in a smile and nodded. "Do you think this class is going to be hard?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure. All I know is Ms. Sandberg is a great teacher and I'm guaranteed to be able to sketch well at the end of this class." Her curiosity remained with the class, though Caleb was already coming in a close second. "I think I'm going to enjoy it," she said with a slight tone of flirting in her voice, her eyes widening at the idea of sharing a class with Caleb.

The two talked further as the class filled in, eventually with eighteen people coming in, a mix between young and middle aged people, with a couple of senior citizens among the mix looking to have a weekday not end with _Wheel of Fortune_. Lorelai looked around, wondering how this class would end up coalescing as the weeks went on, and how many would stay the entire thirteen weeks.

Just from looks she could tell that a couple of the students were likely out in the first week, if not sooner, while a few were quiet, and a couple of groups were friends looking for a night together through the class. She was pleased that the people in the classroom for the most part were there to learn, and hopefully there was a supportive atmosphere around the room. From reading online about the Workshop and Eleanor, she was hardly a perfectionist, but still demanded the best from her students.

"So...would you like to go out for coffee afterwards?" Caleb asked with a minute to go until the start of the class. "I'd like to get to know you better."

Nervous about going out with a man with only a minute knowing him, Lorelai declined in a friendly manner. "I'm afraid I can't tonight. My best friend drove me here this evening and she has two kids at home, she wouldn't want to hang around with us."

Caleb nodded, knowing how hard it was for his friends to have kids. "Ahh, OK. I thought I'd offer."

"And even though you did say the magic word--coffee, I don't think that I--"

Her response was cut off as she heard a long drawn out voice behind her.

"Students! Hello there."

"Uh-oh, teacher!" Lorelai turned her back to find the woman entering the classroom. She smiled, hoping to have a good first impression on Ms. Sandberg. A quick whisper to Caleb. "Talk after class." Caleb nodded and the entire class drew their attention to their instructor.

Eleanor Sandberg's looks definitely suggested her upbringing in the Bowery of New York. Her height was slightly shorter than Lorelai and the woman's brown hair was elegantly done up into a ponytail. Dressed in comfortable loose jeans paired with a blue blouse, Ms. Sandberg was a few years older than Lorelai, a beautiful, yet commanding woman who had drawn in everyone immediately with her voice which carried her vowels in a long manner, and footsteps suggesting authority. Ms. Sandberg walked over to her desk, placed her materials on it, and immediately sat on the top, just in front of the window.

"Good evening class. I see that nearly all of you are accounted for. I was expecting twenty-two, but there must have been a few who decided they had $500 to burn. Fine with me; more room to spread out." Backing a foot against the desk she took a look at the composition of the class, trying to winnow out the serious students.

"As I reminded you on the phone, this is going to be a serious class involving figure drawing. It is going to be intense, it is going to be long, and by the time you're done I think you'll be sick of this form we call the human body. This is not the place to work out your masturbatory fantasies, to just take a class to view skin, nor is this the place to demonstrate the talent you're sure you have with the publishers of _Low Rider_ magazine, but they have not discovered yet because they are a magazine of photographs, not images of wet dreams." A few giggles from the back, but not from Lorelai, who could tell just from her teacher's voice she was dealing with a strict feminist.

Eleanor clacked her heel on the ground. "Is there something fucking funny about that..." a quick look at the class chart. "Bernard and Frank?" Lorelai was startled at the profanity but knew this wasn't a public school class. The class syllabus had even read that there was a language advisory, and reviews of Ms. Sandberg's work had given her a warning of her liberal swearing.

"No...no ma'am," Frank stumbled out. "I was just--"

"If you don't take this class seriously, this is the night to back out," she bellowed. "You're going to be seeing plenty of shit you don't usually see and there might be glass in front of my models, but their feelings will be respected just like any other class. Are we understood?"

"We are," Bernard said, shaking. "I...I apologize."

"Mr. Delfino?" She stared down Frank. "Yes or no?"

He hurriedly nodded. "Yes..ma'am."

"Good. Because unsatisfactory performance this evening in these opening lessons **will** be judged. If I see stuff that wouldn't pass muster in the bathroom walls of Pepe's, you'll have a short time in this class. I want 100% put into your drawings."

She paced the classroom, going over her training over the years. "I have been drawing in New York for over twenty-five years, instructing it for ten. Taught and teaching at Cooper Union, one of the more honored instructors in the Northeast. I don't expect perfection, but I want you damned close to it. This isn't second grade art class where drawing potato people is acceptable; you better know your shit or you won't advance far." Lorelai clenched her teeth, really nervous now. Caleb gave her a look and the woman acknowledged her with a nod...

Which only drew Eleanor towards her to make a point.

"Ms. Gilmore," she purred, her ass sliding along the top edge of her writing desk. "I have read your application and your best friend referred you into this class. Said you had past experience with drawing. Surely you have banked your skills over the years? Why come back into a class like this?"

Gulping, Lorelai immediately knew that 'to keep me away from work on Thursday nights' wouldn't be the right answer, nor would a joke about _Friends_ being off the air for two years. "Well, she convinced me that this was a worthwhile skill for business and leisure."

"Correct." A relieved and silent sigh. "It is indeed, a worthwhile skill." Lorelai's eyes remained trained to Eleanor's ass and she wondered if her fluid sexuality would get her in trouble, when Eleanor's voice nulled that little feeling for her. "However, it can also be abused. I have seen a few of my students, especially during the _Titanic_ crap, use it solely for sexual perversion or just some whacked way to get into the videogame business because they 'understand the body'. This is not that kind of class. It is about finding the beauty in the human form, and how that may apply to everyday life."

She narrowed her eyes as she slid off Lorelai's desk towards the class. "This class may have the word 'Introductory' within it, but I assure you, that this isn't a class to learn the basics. It is obvious that most of you have come from art classes where you have been taught basic drawing skills. Or you may have had careers where that is hardly the focus. However here, you will learn all that is needed about the human form."

Eleanor moved to the center of the room, making a point to have her finger near body parts. "This class is hardly like the type you see on television, where things are sexualized. The models for this class were drawn from multiple applications and body types. The stick figures were thrown out, the _David_ wannabes with sculpled abs and pecs, but tiny dicks from their steroids thrown right off the list. I have drawn a list of three people who will be your guides for the next thirteen weeks. One of them is a brave soul just nervous about their place in life.  They are not at all white and boring Abercrombie models. They have tattoos, piercings, imperfect moles and marks, freckles. One of them does not have their right leg, a defect from their birth where they must have an artificial limb to move around the world. Something you will not see in this class at all because you shall draw them without that limb, and anyone caught adding it in will not see another week here."

Continuing her pacing,  the teacher showed how much of an advocate she was to her models. "They will be safe behind that glass, and also behind their pseudonyms. All of them will retain their anonymity, and only in the last week will you see any opportunity for an introduction. This is a class for **you** , and for them, an opportunity to share with the world at large their uniqueness and strength for spending thirteen weeks here. They cannot hear you, they cannot see you. For all they know, this room is empty, and on their side calming music is played so that they can keep their focus. If I hear anyone laugh or express distaste with the models, I highly suggest you show yourself out silently. Because I will not be kind to those who try to stay."

She went over the grading system for the class before finishing up. "I expect all work to be done by the end of class. There will also be homework, where you must work from memory for your assignment. That means that your mind better be damned ready to take in every detail of your assigned model. We are **not** at the Learning Annex. This will be a serious class, and I expect you all to have improved mightily by the end of week thirteen. Are we understood?"

Lorelai nodded, glad to know that she wasn't going to be in a class where the subject matter wouldn't be taken seriously. She had been excited before for the opportunity to be in the class, but now knew she wanted to impress Ms. Sandberg by the end. _I'm going to ace this, hell or high water_ , she thought to herself, although knowing Caleb would be a bit in the way with that with his looks and his equally quick wit.

With everyone set, Ms. Sandberg knew it was time to get the show on the road. ”Then let's draw the curtains." Pushing the intercom button into the former interrogation room, she began the class. "Models, to your places!"

After a minute of setting, a tone came through as the assistant on the other side indicated that everyone was in place.  With that, Ms. Sandberg allowed the curtain in front of the window to be drawn.

Lorelai's curiosity was deep, especially when it came to the person without their leg. Dealing with some handicapped customers through her years in the industry, Lorelai no longer cringed at all when they came in to stay. She could easily handle someone without an appendage, though she wondered how she'd react to a tattooed or pierced person, considering her hidden fear of needles.

As the curtain was drawn, Ms. Sandberg introduced the models by the names they had chosen to hide their real identities, with the curtain stopping at each one, starting with an African-American male. "This, is Claude, a 30 year-old machine foreman who had volunteered with us before." With an average build, the man stood out slightly, but was definitely a unique man with a good build, though hardly muscular. Lorelai took in his features and found him an acceptable drawing subject in every way.

The second part of the window opened up, revealing the model without their right leg, an Asian-American girl. "Here we have Dora, a 26 year-old physicist." The woman had several tattoos lining along her side, along with a piercing in her left nipple. "She has taken this class in the past and was one of our highlight students in it. She volunteered to take this year on the other side of the glass in order to provide another life experience to herself." Lorelai nodded, surprised by the courage she saw in the young woman's eyes.

She wondered what other surprise awaited on the right side of the curtain. Deciding not to make a guess, she held her breath for the last revelation.

"Our last subject for this course year is Athena, a 21 year-old student. Brand new completely to the Workshop and self-depreciating of her beauty, she has taken a brave leap of faith and is ready to help you learn this craft." Lorelai had looked down to make sure all of her materials were in place, missing the curtain revelation of the last subject.

Looking up and not expecting much, the brunette hotelier expected pretty much anyone...

Only to find familiar and dark almond eyes staring at her through the glass. Those russet cheeks, her loosely done dark blonde hair, along with her short height which had her on an extended stool to meet the heights of her fellow models.

At first, Lorelai thought she was seeing things. _No...no!_ She dropped her pencil, examining the model further.

The woman's entire frame was in view, head to toe. There hadn't even been any period of getting comfortable with the drawing subject in a robe, and all three were fully nude. But Lorelai's attention was now fully on the model to the right. She hoped to disprove herself...

Only to see signs that her mind was not playing tricks on her.

Through description, she knew a few things. That the woman had a tattoo from her youth on her right ankle in tribute to her father. That a diet from a few years back had eventually failed and brought her back to the weight she knew before. A beauty regimen from her dermatologist that had ended abruptly.

Finally--

_Shit. No. No. It...it isn't. It can't be._ Her eyes were trained upon the subject's neck, where on the left side, a familiar dark brown mark was known in full, familiar and unforgettable. If not for a death by burning, she could easily identify the subject solely by the mole alone.

Her heart beat faster. She gripped the desk for support. Not wanting to be thrown out of class, she kept clammed up and silent, looking at the woman who could not and would not see her through the glass. Taking in her full form, one she had never seen before at all outside of clothing, Lorelai's mind knew the conclusion.

_It's...it's..._

_...Paris._ She closed her fist around her pencil. _Oh God. Oh...God._ A beat.

_That is not Paris Gellar, the most modest woman I know, up there, in the buff, waiting for me to draw her, is it?_

__One more glance into the window. The young woman was stick still, prepared for the weeks to come.

Lorelai knew if she said a word, not only would she be taken out of the class, but the model would be too.

_What the fuck did your parents do to you, Paris?_ she thought sadly to herself, feeling a surge of pity. _Your senior year at Yale, when you should be doing a victory lap. And now you're stuck doing this to pay the bills?_

__Her heart felt for the blonde, and she wondered what led her here. But then she remembered; it could be a lot worse.

_Lor_ , her conscience told her, _this is an art class. Just an art class. With a nice atmosphere, a fake name behind her, and just sitting there for two hours. Look at her, she's fine, still as a celery stick. She's cool with this. It could be much worse, she could be at one of those skeezy clubs like Keepers off 95. But she's here. She's safe. Nobody but you knows her as Paris! So don't worry about it!_

_Don't worry about it?!_ she scolded herself. _I have to look at her and draw her for thirteen weeks. I should just withdraw and--_

_Go back to Sookie and say you were too chicken to do the class. Oh, that'll be nice. You'll have a friend pissed off at you after all the effort she put into paying for this class. And come in, it's Paris! You can't say she's ugly at all. Heck, you've looked at her before, she's got the best of the Gellar gene pool. It's probably why you were able to handle her when Rory couldn't and..._

__Her thoughts came to a halt as she found herself examining the woman further on Ms. Sandberg's invitation. She had been used to the girl being nearly religiously bound to her corduroys and sweaters for all the years she knew her. It had been jarring to come into the apartment and find her in t-shirts and loose blouses.

_You thought that was a shocking transition?!_ Lorelai knew she was in for it now. She paused to regard the future lawyer/doctor in a way she had not expected in her entire life.

Her child's best friend...well, at least Paris thought Rory was her best friend, but Lorelai didn't even know who held that title now besides that blank blonde who hung out with the guys and knew more about Neiman Marcus than W.E.B. DuBois.

_I'm going to be Jack, and she's Rose. I have a freakin' Rose, except I'm in a building on solid ground with no threat of an iceberg about to hit us. Dear God._ She looked over Paris, expecting that it would be odd to regard the woman near half her age in the manner of a neutral sketch subject.

She sucked in a breath, her focus moving towards Claude and Dora to regard the purpose of the class, before moving back to Athena. All she could hope for was that she would--

"Alright, I'm dividing you into groups of six," Eleanor bellowed. "Each group will be working with a certain model for the full thirteen weeks. You will work with that model, and only that model." A hand was raised. "Yes?"

The young man asked his question shakily. "What...what if we're stuck with...with Claude, and we don't...don't want to draw with him?"

A pause, and then a look and a sneer. "I'm not sure. You're going to find out though; you're with Claude." The student groaned, but knew their fate was sealed; it was a class where the assignments were up to the teacher. "Alright, I'm going in random order, assigning numbers. 1 is Claude's group, 2 will sketch Dora, and finally, those with #3 get Athena. And don't try to change it, I pretty much have you all figured out."

Being at the other end of the room, Lorelai had hope she would be a 1 or a 2. The teacher went through each of the students, counting on a piece of paper as she marked off how far she was.

_Please don't be a three, please don't be a three_ , she pleaded. _Maybe I could at least change?_ she thought, knowing she was stuck in this one class. _Or Paris will suddenly get sick? Or stage fright?_ She looked into the window, trying to send psychic waves that she was there and Paris would be having her friend's mom sketch her for thirteen weeks.

Surprisingly, the waves didn't cross the mirrored glass. Paris sat in front of the window neutrally, her right foot hooked beneath the rail of the stool as quickly Lorelai's mind was filling with other thoughts.

Other thoughts which she would not voice out, especially if the subject was under eighteen.

_Damn, she has nice boobs! Nicer than mine...Come on, Lor! You're here to learn. Don't sexualize her!_ She frowned at herself as Caleb found a bit of time for an aside about the girl.

"She's got nice and deep brown eyes," he said, completely shocking Lorelai, who had pre-braced herself for a breast joke. "It'll make sketching her face easier."

"Really, a naked woman and all you can talk about is her eyes?" Lorelai said. "You're full of surprises."

"Well she is nice. But hardly my type." A glance her way. "Also, despite what has been asserted by Barbara De Angelis and the Berman sisters, men can have solely friendly feelings towards women. Some of my best friends in Chicago were women."

"Uh-huh, I believe that." Lorelai scoffed, knowing what Luke's friendship eventually led to; heartbreak.

"She looks a little angry," he said. "Like she frowns a lot. Is she one of those Russian gymnasts?"

Lorelai shook her head, trying to hide her knowledge of Paris but knowing her moods clearly. "I don't think she's Russian. She's probably American. The Greek name, you know. Kind of looks Sephardi Jewish to me."

"You know what a Spanish-French Jew looks like?"

"Just a guess," she said, distracted by how angular Paris's shoulders were.  "There's a lot of them here. It's Connecticut, and I was in society for a long time."

A nod. "What do you mean? You seem rich?"

"If only that were truly so." Seeing Eleanor come their way, Lorelai was caught to quiet herself immediately. Half the class had their assigned models doled out, with Lorelai and Caleb to be next.

Eleanor had keen hearing and had heard them both discuss Athena's attributes. With an internal smile, she knew it would be perfect as she came to stand in front of them.

"Brandt and Gilmore..." Lorelai again tried to send her non-existent psychic waves to maybe direct her drawing skills towards the non-existent model number 4, who kind of looked like a New York firefighter from that calendar she bought a couple weeks ago.

"Number three for the both of you." Silence, she walked away, and Lorelai felt her stomach drop.

_Great. Exactly what the fates wanted to allow, me drawing Paris stark naked. I...I...huh. I would have never figured her for that kind of piercing. Or any kind after the nose screw-up._

__Now Lorelai Gilmore was only one of five people, besides Doyle, the piercer, the woman herself and said woman's OB-GYN to know that indeed, Paris had trusted her life and had her hood pierced with what seemed to be a pearly type of barbell, which caught her in mid-panic. _No wonder she was devastated when Doyle had to leave_ , she thought to herself. _He was her lobster, in sexual relationship terms_.

She shook her head, wondering how this could go. Or if she could ask for Claude or Dora, but knew it was probably unlikely. Caleb saw her reaction and wondered what was going on.

"You're not that interested in women, are you?" Lorelai was surprised by his concern, but also how loaded the question was. "I take it you're not...ummm, how can I put it without being throttled."

"No, it's not that. She just looks so young," she said, telling the truth within the hidden statement. "I came into the class and now it's actually happening. We're drawing someone's daughter or son, their flesh and blood. I just don't want to screw it up."

"If you follow the teacher's advice, you won't," he assured her. "It'll be OK. If you have a problem, we can work as a team."

Lorelai smiled, glad for the concern. "I guess I'm just...nervous. This kind of stuff I only saw in the locker room at school a generation back, and I never lingered or stared because it wasn't right. I...I've always been with guys. No women, ever. No offense to that at all, but I just wouldn't know where to start and my sexual needs have never ticked that way."

"Any certain reason for that?"

"Umm, Rory." She didn't know why she was being open with Caleb, but she knew somewhat it was to tamp down the shock of Paris in front of her.

"Rory? What happened, did he do something to you?"

"No...no. **She** was born when I was sixteen and there's a lot of complications about that. Basically, there's more to me that I could ever explain in ten minutes. I'm like Bree Van de Kamp, except not very proper, perpetually single and without any criminal record."

"You're a desperate housewife?"

"No, no. You know that show _How to Boil Water_? I don't even know how to do that. My chef/best friend basically keeps me in food. Especially after my last relationship went down in flames."

"Oh, you can't be that bad." The man's curiously was wide. "Everyone has a relationship that doesn't work out."

"My ex-fiancé owns the town diner. We were happy until he found out he had a kid from years back he never knew about. He hid it from me, we found out truths about ourselves we had hidden from." A solemn pause. "So, very complicated."

"I can sense that." He caught Eleanor out of the corner of his eye. "Shoot, put this aside for the rest of class, for sure." Lorelai brought herself to attention, now without any distractions from Caleb.

Just Paris in front of her in the nude.

_Damn it_ , she said, cursing herself as she glance at the young woman she thought she would forever know as annoying.

Except now, she wasn't. She was very feminine, and unlike her past quips, not robot-like in the least. Standing there, staring at her. Only she wasn't staring at anything but her reflection.

"All the assignments are now given out," Ms. Sandberg proclaimed. "I hope there are no other outstanding issues with this class. If you object to your model, you may make an equitable switch with someone else for this class only. After that? You're stuck with them."

As Ms. Sandberg went on with her introductory speech, Lorelai knew despite her aversion that she wouldn't trade Paris, if only because a few of her classmates had cursed getting Dora and were mad because they 'didn't get the girl with the fine rack'. She refused to give them the satisfaction of a trade just to objectify Paris.

_But I'm doing the same myself_ , she argued internally. _I mean look at her...how have you hid that form from Ford for so long, Gellar? Geeze, you're built well_.  She concentrated on the curve of each of Paris's breasts and how they rested against her, along with how the knot of her navel was smooth rather than knotted. Her skin was speckled with moles and little marks that made her seem less porcelain and protected than she usually was.

Surprising to her though was how she was attracted to Paris's extremities. Tall and elegant legs, smooth arms and shoulders that had more definition than she had ever thought. Lorelai was surprised at how perfect a sketching subject Paris ended up being, remembering the few times in high school she did sketching, but with clothed subjects.

_I think this can work_ , she thought to herself, taking careful internal notes. After about five more minutes, Ms. Sandberg finished her speech.

"If there are no more questions, I do have your first assignment." She stepped to the lectern in front of the window. "I want to see how you draw at this current point. Right now. I am giving you twenty minutes to make a sketch of your subject from the head to the chest as you have, or have not, been taught. This portion I will not look for perfection, only aptitude."

"OK, head to...abdomen," Lorelai noted, thankful she wouldn't have to do a whole body drawing right away. "Think you can do this, Caleb?"

"Hope so. It's a little intimidating, I haven't done this before."

Looking over the class for readiness, Eleanor found everyone set and ready as she set a digital stopwatch to time twenty minutes. "Drawing starts...now." With a beep, the basic grey Sportline sprang to life to time everyone. Lorelai went right to work, taking slow and needed glances at her model as she looked over a few times and saw Caleb trying to do his best. Soon she drew her full attention to her own canvas as the others surrounding her generally did the same.

The large space of her sketchpad provided the artificial limits of how far she could go as far as the size of the sketch, but she felt unlimited in reality. She took constant glances at Paris, drawing the outline of her face and then adding the detail in her face that she had noticed, from the slight darkness in her cheeks and the split of her philtrum, along with the freckles on her nose that were only visible very up close. She brought her tongue, finessing the sketch, trying to be speedy in the allotted time but also thorough.

Through every minute, she observed Paris nearly as still as a statue, barely moving. She swore the girl barely even exhaled. Besides a couple sly movements of her feet back and forth to keep a cramp at bay, all three subjects were still and normal, still able to move slightly, though it was Paris who moved the least by far.

Lorelai cursed softly seven minutes in as her first drawing pencil broke, but caught right up by grabbing her second pencil and continuing the sketch. This time the pencil did not fail at all as she was able to finish up the sketch, despite some lingering doubts that her work wasn't quite there yet.

Silently, Caleb looked over the brunette with the razor wit as he attempted to try to draw Athena to his style, but felt it very lacking. Despite not having to deal with drawing hips his perspective was a little skewed from his drawing position and he felt he was giving the young woman too much heft in her breasts. He knew his first drawing was going to be quite off, but was glad at least for this assignment, Ms. Sandberg would only be giving advice, not yelling at him for getting things wrong.

The old stationhouse clock remained sentry from its days timing police shifts, ticking down the minutes as everyone was busy putting on their finishing touches in the eighteenth minute. Lorelai finished with the shadowing of the woman's breasts, her breath catching at how lovely the woman did look despite the self-pitying her daughter claimed was 'annoying'.

_Maybe she was just mad Paris was getting good sex from Doyle...wait, I just thought that!_ She shuddered off the thought and finished off the last of the sketch as Eleanor saw the digits on the stopwatch edge towards the goal. Her smile wrinkling up until her favorite part of the first night of class began.

_Click._

__"Pencils down. Erasers down," she cried out to the room. Lorelai had just finished her last bit of detailing and startled let her pencil fall to the surface and roll down to the rest at the bottom of the table.

Closing her eyes, Lorelai hoped that Ms. Sandberg would not use her as the Goofus example of how to draw as she had everyone in the class tear out their drawings out of the pad after sketching and signing them. She handed her paper over with Caleb and after three more minutes of collecting, Eleanor clicked the intercom into the other room.

"Your service is complete for the evening and you have all done a splendid job. After I draw the curtain, you may dress and head home. Thank you again." All three were glad to leave their poses and with the curtains drawn, the focus was back on the classroom as Ms. Sandberg sat down.

"You may speak and get to know your neighbor," she proclaimed. "I shall be making one-on-one assessments with each of you in ten minutes."

Lorelai let out a tight breath she was holding as the beguiling Caleb brought her attention to hm, all thoughts of Paris/Athena disappearing into the ether. The green-eyed man was curious to know Lorelai a little more deeply.

"So this Stars Hollow. What is it?"

"Well..." She tried to stab at a description. "You know a Norman Rockwell painting?" He needed. "Well, add the usual obsessions for the Patriots and Red Sox with a dash of fun with the Revolution and the wacky townspeople you see in sitcoms? There's Stars Hollow for you." A smile. "It's my home, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

"I'd probably have to visit to understand your town."

"You'd probably have to **live** there. It took me five years to really be welcomed in as a citizen. Everyone else they look at a bit oddly." Lorelai batted her eyes. "But if you're looking for the suburban blandness of Palatine, you aren't going to find it in Stars Hollow."

"If the type of people that come out of that town are like you, I'd be happy to visit." He slid a business card out of his pocket, to Lorelai's surprise. "I do have my cell on there if you want to give me a call; I'm renting a condo over in Derby for now."

Lorelai smiled and took the card, putting it in her purse. "Well thank you." She looked around and on a bit of ripped paper wrote down her own number. "It might help when we get our homework to meet out of class." She also scribbled down her email and MSN before handing it over. "And there you go."

He glanced down at the paper, reading off the offered screenname. "caffeinatedinnkeeper@hotmail.com?"

"Let's say I have a coffee addiction that would require an intervention in other circumstances. Half my blood is caffeine at this point."

"Better to have a nice coffee habit."

"And I have a tendency to ramble and talk on and on, just warning you in advance." She felt at ease with Caleb, her eyes wrinkling as the dimples in her smile deepened. "You're sticking with this class, I hope."

The man laughed softly, shaking his head as he glanced at the tall innkeeper who had quickly enchanted him. "With company like you, I think my Thursday nights are booked. Plus the sketching was fun."

Just then, Caleb was called up to the front for his evaluation by Ms. Sandberg. "Well, here's hoping I don't get a chewing out like I did with Mr. Mercer back at Maine West."

"Chewing out?"

A shrug. "Chemistry class...you can figure it out." Lorelai cringed as Caleb got up, admiring his form and having a little bit of imaginative foreplay in her mind with Caleb.

Soon though, her mind had gone back to Paris...or Athena, as she would have to know her within this class. _Why not get a regular job?_ Lorelai thought as she poured over in her head that the young woman who was sure to sweep her field once she left Yale would instead be a nude model for a sketching class.

She remembered the girl's extreme shyness, the few sleepovers she had at the Gilmore house usually filled with a request to borrow a robe or extra shirt. Until an hour ago she had never been able to picture Paris in much less than the flowy dress the one time the girls ended up blitzed on Miss Patty's punch.

_Now I don't know what to think._ Vacantly she drew a small Paris-like figure on the ripped page of her sketch pad, taking off a little of her hair to create what looked like a Tinkerbell-like nymph with a little more bitter attitude than even the Disney fairy could even muster. She wondered how Ms. Sandberg would take her drawing, though she expected a bit less than acceptable.

Putting the finishing touches on the wings and the skirt, Lorelai grinned about her how her little Paris-bell had come out. She had kept the woman's basic form but worked around it with a snug-fitting dress shaded in a light grey, while keeping the mole on her neck. She felt proud of herself as Caleb got up, a little worse for the wear.

"Lorelai, you are next," Eleanor called out, and the brunette gathered a few things as Caleb gave off a quick post-mortem.

"She said I didn't do too bad for my first try, though I definitely need improvement." With a pout he sat back at his desk as Lorelai sent him a sympathetic glance before turning her attention to the appraisal of her abilities.

The innkeeper took her seat in the plastic chair as Ms. Sandberg paged over to her sketch.

"Well...Lorelai." A purposeful pause by Eleanor as she let herself build the tension slightly just enough to see Lorelai gulp in fear.

"Yes ma'am." There was no way Lorelai was going to be sarcastic to this woman. She looked over the form and then brought her eye contact to Lorelai's.

"You ever sketch before?"

Lorelai nodded. "Not in the last twenty years or so since I left high school to have my daughter. Occasionally I do some sketches to see how a dress might look on someone, and when I'm bored at work I try to copy a picture in _People_ or _Cosmo_ of someone I see, but not true to form."

"I see." Eleanor planted her hands on the table. "If I wouldn't know better, I would say you know Athena already."

"But I don't--"

"I know." Lorelai was relieved, thinking she was about to be exposed. "But you already seem to have a rapport with her that I don't see in anyone else I assigned her too. Your drawings have a real polish about them, Ms. Gilmore. They're very nice to me. A few things like your eye work and shading, we definitely have to help you out with those, but you do a good job with shaping, features and angles. You still have plenty to learn about the craft, but to start off and be out for all this time? There's potential here for sure."

"Really?" Ms. Sandberg nodded with the slightest smile. "Thank you."

"Do not thank me yet, Lorelai. This is the first class and there's always the possibility of regression or a skill you just cannot get. I..." She noticed then the Tinkerbell drawing Lorelai held. "Can I see that?"

"Sure..." She thought she saw disapproval from Eleanor. "Did...did I do something wrong?"

"I just want to examine it. But I should warn you that this class is not allowing drawings of licensed characters. You wouldn't believe the art schools that have shut down because some teacher allowed the drawing of Bugs Bunny without the proper approvals. This one is..." She lowered her reading glasses to examine the sketch. "This is Athena as Tinkerbell, is it not?"

"Uh, yes it is. I did it while waiting for Caleb to get back."

"I see." She looked at the fine details in the six inch drawing. "Ms. Gilmore, you're an innkeeper?"

"I am, yes."

"I think if you develop your craft with this class and possibly take my intermediate course later, or even enroll in a university class, you have a second skill developing here. This is Disney-quality here, even for just a drawing out of boredom. Again, shading is off but the heart is there, and I love how you used Athena as your muse and placed her in an original pose rather than the one I associate most with the character." She looked it over a little more. "You could even do your own ads." A pause.

"Lorelai, do you have a personal computer at home?"

"I do, in my sewing room. I used to sponge off my daughter's laptop, but now that I have a proper business I got a large-screen iMac so I can keep tabs on my accounting with my business."

"I am going to advise you to do a couple of things; you don't have to do this since you would have to spend money, but it would help. Do you have a black and write laser printer?"

"Does the pope live in Rome? After a nasty experience with a DeskJet and a 200 page fax, never again." She still remembered the nightmare that was the $100 in print cartridges she had to buy a few months ago to refill what she derisively called 'The Vampire'.

"Great, that's out of the way. What I'm going to advise you to do out of class is to develop your craft. You're very good. If not for the small issues I have with your style I would say you didn't need me." Lorelai nodded, thankful she wasn't being yelled at. "Have you heard of a WACOM tablet?"

"I think I have. My daughter had to take something called a CAD class in her sophomore year and used something like that, though it looked very complicated and like it needed about six connectors to work."

"Trust me, that was old technology. These days you get a good one for about $150 and just hook it up via USB, so you can use it at home and work, make the canvas as big as your screen can fit, even email me your drawings in advance. I know this sounds like a pitch of some kind, but you have a natural talent I've found in only a few students in all the years I've taught." She looked down at Lorelai's hands. "I don't mean to sound like I am flirting with you, but you have an artist's hands for sure."

"Thank...you?" Lorelai blushed. "I could probably swing that drawing tablet thingy."

"And if you do...I can sneak you a free copy of the software you need for the drawing program itself from my education discount." Lorelai nodded. "So yes, I'm not yelling at you. Just work on a few things here and there and I think you're going to be golden in this class, maybe my leading pupil this quarter. I honestly assigned you Athena because I expected your skills to be simple. However, you seem to know her. So if it's all right I'm going to keep you assigned to her."

"That...sounds good." Lorelai felt her nerves building. _Great, now you have to stick with this class, apparently she thinks I'm the da Vinci to Paris's Mona Lisa!_ "Um...anytthing else?"

"Yes, keep your attention on the work," she said, giving a glance towards Caleb. "I know people find dates here, but you can surely pursue that line of thinking after class." Lorelai looked uneasy, but understood where Eleanor was coming from.

"Oh yes, that's me...eyes on the prize. Focused completely on my work." A glance and then a laugh, which was received with stern silence. "I think I'll just get out of the way. Thank you, Ms. Sandberg." After a nod, Lorelai got up and pushed in the chair, heading back to her desk where Caleb was wondering how it went.

"So, did she Simon Cowell or Paula Abdul you?"

Lorelai laughed and pointed. "Neither. More constructive _So You Think You Can Dance_ -style. I'm doing good, but I just have to focus." The next twenty minutes were spent watching the rest of the class have their evaluations. Two found themselves leaving the classroom flustered or in shame by either their lack of drawing skills or using them to exaggerate certain body parts over others. Caleb and Lorelai continued to talk and find a rapport and the brunette became comfortable with his friendliness without any hesitation.

However, her mind was filled with thoughts of Paris, recalling how stern the woman had been just sitting there. She had been surprised that even without thinking her talent had remained strong years after it went into dormancy. As Caleb talked about his early years and she listened with interest, she wondered how Paris would be doing after she left the class.

_I wonder if Rory knows,_ she thought for a moment, before realizing that it was Rory she was thinking about. _No, she doesn't. Like the professor she dated before he passed away or her relationship with Doyle, Rory has always mocked her. If she found out about this, I hate to be truthful about this, but she would be viciously cutting._

__Behind closed doors she had tried to tell Rory to cut it out with the hidden mocking of Paris she used as an excuse to vent, rather than what Lorelai thought had become a way to lord her superiority over Paris in school and life. If her talks with the blonde had helped with one thing, it had given her clarity on why the girl behaved how she did. Since then she had brushed aside nearly all attempts to make fun of the nervous young woman, understanding that she was going through the same hellish growing up process she had after she left Hartford, though in a different way.

She was thinking about how Paris had to be struggling to pay the bills, when Caleb got her attention with a question. Color-shifting green eyes stared back at her, inquisitive as to how her focus had been lost.

"Lorelai, you OK?" The voice jarred the woman and she held a hand to her chest.

"Oh God." She shook her head. "Geeze, I'm sorry. Thinking about other things."

"I could tell." A small smile inched across his stubbled cheeks. "Next week you want to come in early? We could stop at the Starbucks on Chapel Square--"

"No!" She startled Caleb with her sudden refusal, and he seemed wounded, leaving Lorelai to hurriedly soothe him. "I...I mean, no, I don't do corporate coffee. I take it black. That's all they need. But nooo, they require you to take a class in 'no-foam venti sweet 2% double-caff espresso' and they always screw up my name on the cup. Sometimes it's Laura, I get Lolo, and when they're completely wrong, Lollipop."

"OK, so no coffee--"

A smirk. "I'm not turning you down, mister. Dormand's on Crown is where I go when I'm in town here."

"OK, so Dormand's, next Thursday?" Caleb lit up and felt excited at the opportunity to know Lorelai more out of the class, and the innkeeper shared the same thoughts. "Say, 6pm?"

"I'll try my hardest to get out by 5pm from work. You have my...everything. I have your card." A little dreamy sigh. "And I have had fun tonight. You better show up next week."

"I wouldn't think of not doing so." With the last student receiving their assessment (and fleeing), Eleanor rose out of her chair, moving to the center of the room. She struck her shoe against the terrazzo surface of the floor to bring the attention of the class to her.

"Now that the wheat has been separated from the chaff, I do indeed have some homework for you all to do during the week." She walked around the room, stern and unflappable, her arms across her chest.

""I have seen your first interpretation of your model. I know you have not been taught well yet, so I would like to see you after the weekend, from memory, a drawing of your model. Posture will not matter, and this is solely to test how devoted you will be to the class and how much you retained this first day experience. I expect you to turn it on Thursday before we come to our next assignment. Please put effort into it. With that..." She looked at the clock, reading 9:00pm, "All of you have a great week." Most of the classroom cleared out quickly as Caleb and Lorelai gathered their things and headed into the halls, where the remainder of the Workshop's classes were clearing out.

Lorelai played a hunch and looked over to the doorway leading to the old interrogation room to see if anyone was still in there, a curious Caleb following behind. However, a man was there, shaking his head.

"You must be wondering where the models went." Lorelai nodded with an 'mm-hmm.' They usually leave ten minutes before so there's no way for the class or models to bump into each other. I just keep the room in order and beyond that I cannot tell you anything else."

Lorelai shrugged and knew that there was probably no way to know where Paris was if she was already gone from the building. _It's better this way_ , she thought, knowing she couldn't give any hint that she was there at all to ruin the illusion of what was now the reality. The two people headed down the hallway and the stairs towards the front entrance of the Workshop, continuing to talk and set up things for the next week.

She knew Sookie would be the only one she could possibly tell about Caleb, and knew she would refuse to give any hints to Emily or Rory at all, not wanting to have them butt into her dating life. She walked Caleb to his car on the other side of the street, a silver Acura which still had its original Illinois plates, which Lorelai reminded him about.

"Yeah, still have to get to the Motor Vehicle Department, but I'm delaying it as long as possible."

"Wise words," Lorelai grumbled. "I spent six hours there the last time I got my license renewal. Six hours without coffee. It's a horrible thought."

"You could bring an energy drink with you--"

The innkeeper scoffed harshly at the notion. "I will not betray coffee by drinking Red Bull! Have you ever looked at the ingredients list on one of those cans? Also I did try it once and it made me very ill, I just can't do it. My caffeine has to be gently doled out, not all at once."

Caleb brushed a hand through his hair and nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you couldn't do an energy drink."

"No, it's understandable. And on my budget, $4 for a can compared to $1-$2 a cup, it's much gentler on my purse."

"So it's noted, you're a coffee person, no question." Lorelai smiled back and bent down as he closed the door, unrolling it in the cool November air as he put on his seatbelt. "Do you want me to pick you up from work?"

"NO!" Lorelai shook her head strongly and Caleb was thrown off.

"I'm sorry, I--"

"No, not you." She held up her hand. "Two things will happen if you pick me up yourself. Either the town will send out an Amber Alert because they've never seen your car before, or begin to plan my wedding at that exact moment as the gossip spreads through town. For now, I want to keep this as quiet as possible." She cringed, feeling very apologetic. "Sorry, just living in a small town, you have to be careful."

"I understand. Same way at work before I left Chicago." He exchanged a smile as he started his engine. "Until next week, Lorelai. Hope we get into contact again."

"Me too." With a nod, both said their final goodbyes before Caleb pulled away from his parking space down the road, leaving Lorelai standing at the curb for a few moments before she decided to cross the street and wait for Sookie to come back in the well-lit area in front of the Workshop. Sookie pulled up five minutes later, and Lorelai composed herself before getting into the newly purchased red Escape Jackson had bought Sookie a few months back, putting her art portfolio in the back then getting in the front seat, where her best friend hoped to hear the details of the night. After getting settled in and onto the 91, she spoke up.

"I...I did want to thank you," Lorelai said, feeling honest. "I really felt good without having to be stuck at work tonight."

"Oh, hon, you're welcome. Did you have fun?" she wondered, and was answered through a four minute ramble by Lorelai about the specifics of the class and her teacher. She held off as long as she could mentioning either Paris or Caleb and went on about Ms. Sandberg's compliment about her drawing style and how much she enjoyed working in the class. Sookie was relieved to hear her present would not be wasted.

"So you're going next week? I'm not going to have to drive you down here again, am I?"

"Rest assured, I shall be coming on my own next week, Sook." She smiled and settled back in her seat.

"So..." Sookie turned for a moment. "Are you drawing a willie or a hoo-hah in this class?"

Lorelai snorted. "Maybe a couple times this year, but my main assignment is a girl, and apparently I have a muse, surprisingly enough." She decided to avert. "Oh, and I may have someone I like in my class."

The redhead was interested. "Like as in, 'I could be friends with them', or like as in, 'What I'd like to do is take them to bed and ravage them'?"

"I wouldn't go that far...yet. A guy named Caleb. He works for AT&T and sells business services, just came from Chicago. He's...nice." A dreamy sigh. "Much more neutral too, not Chris-like or Luke-like. He's a good guy, mocked the class a little with me." She raised her eyebrow. "I think he might be...fit, too. I didn't get a good look, but yeah, he's nice."

"Oooh, that's great," Sookie said, glowing and happy that her best friend might finally be getting out of the clouds. "Single?"

"Never married, took in my Chicago rant and understood well, and even the teacher noticed we seemed to work well together. He's funny, too." She looked both ways, even though she was in a car, on the highway, with only Sookie listening. "In fact, don't tell anybody, but I'm cutting out early next Thursday to have coffee with him before class."

If Sookie could pull off a fist-pump on the road, she would do it. Instead, she let out a happy laugh. "Oooh, youuuu like himmmm, don't you? It took Max weeks to get a date and that was just because he was in town."

The brunette demurred. "Well I don't know if he's the one, but he is definitely in contention for sure. I mean, if you want to do a felony check, go ahead--"

"Oh geeze, I trust you, Lor. That's why I had you do this class in the first place, to meet people. I'm glad you did meet someone you haven't known before and that there's nobody there from your past to get in your way."

_And I think that would be the opening_ , Lorelai thought to herself, dreading the next part of the conversation. She gulped, took a deep breath and turned to look out her window, scared of the look on her chef's face when she revealed what she knew.

"Funny you would say that..." Lorelai grimaced. "So...you know how my model is a woman? That apparently she is my muse according to Ms. Sandberg?"

"Yeah?" Sookie paused. "Wait, do you know her?"

"You could say that." She stayed silent for a few moments.

"Is she an old friend from Hillside? Or..." The chef shrieked. "Oh my God, it's Rachel, isn't it? Or Sherrie?"

"No, no, no. I don't think it is. Remember, Sherrie went to a treatment center in New Hampshire for her post-partum depression?"

"Oh yeah." Sookie scoffed. "Still kind of scummy what Christopher and Mrs. Hayden tried to do to undercut her rights to Gigi." The past year had saw Sherrie's parents having nearly gone broke in order to keep Gigi in Massachusetts while their daughter sought treatment. "But not them?"

"No, you're going to be surprised." She made her voice neutral. "It's Paris." She didn't know what to expect for her friend's reaction.

"Paris?" With a shocked gasp, Sookie shook her head. "We have to exit...I have to stop."

"Sookie--"

"No, don't say anything until I pull off the road."

"But--"

"Stifle!" Sookie yelled, pulling off her best Edith-to-Archie imitation, leaving the hotelier stunned quiet for the next mile until Sookie pulled off at the Wharton Brook Connector and pulled into a nearby service station. The silence in the SUV unnerved Lorelai, and she was wondering how the woman would react to the revelation.

Inside her own mind, Sookie was wondering what she could say. She knew Paris had gone through so many problems over the last year and a half, but now she was...doing nude modeling? _I know she's a little bit crazy_ , she thought. _But it must take a lot to get to that point._

__She knew it must have been more than a shock to her best friend and business partner to see that her Christmas gift had somehow turned into thirteen weeks of having to face her daughter's friend naked. As she pulled into the 7-Eleven lot, she knew it would probably be a long conversation to figure out things. _Maybe I can just pay her back and just forget all of this ever happened._

__Coming to a stop, Sookie faced Lorelai, who was fearful of some kind of negative reaction from her friend. She hoped to reassure her, despite the shock she felt.

"So...Paris is in your class as the model."

"Uh, yeah." Lorelai felt blank and flustered at having to confess this to Sookie. "One moment I'm being introduced to the class and Ms. Sandberg is going through everything, and then the curtain opens in the other room and there she is, Paris Gellar in her birthday suit." She clenched her jaw before going forward. "I really had no idea until that moment and I considered walking out, but I know that would be a waste of money. And it's not like she's underage; she's going to be 21 on Christmas! She can do what she wants with her body."

Sookie shook her head, feeling so unsure, but knowing the last reaction she could have was of a mocking form. Even if her and Michel lived on Paris's misery through the summer she came over for lunches with Lorelai, she knew the girl was in a much worse position than Lorelai ever was in. "So you went forward and sketched her out."

"I did. It was a class, I have a talent. If it was you, I probably would have made the same decision," Lorelai admitted. "And the last thing I want to do is tattletale on Paris. It's not her fault her parents fucked up on their taxes, or Rory treats her like crap."

"Lor--" Not knowing where Lorelai was going, Sookie had expected a golden opinion of the younger Gilmore, but was shocked when Lorelai vented further.

"It's true, Sook. She lost her boyfriend, and she's been losing Rory on and off since she came back to Yale." Deeply sighing, Lorelai reclined her seat back and spilled her soul further. "How many people does she have to lose in her life? Every time Paris gets stressed out, Rory flees to Logan's apartment to stay out of her way when she just wants a friend to vent to, so I become that person just because I'll soak it up and really don't care about how high-strung she is. And now Rory's probably going off to London over the holidays, and I'm seriously scared she won't come back afterwards. She's living in that awful apartment pretty much all alone and has no family support at all. If she's doing this to keep up on her bills, I can't imagine how she's trying to keep up."

"But you talk to her. Can't she withdraw from her trust?"

"Not until she graduates," Lorelai said. "The Gellars may have been rich, but Paris's grandparents are smart. They have always insisted that their children get through college before getting a dime. It's always been a stressful family to get in, but once poor Par blew her Harvard interview, they've treated her like crap because she 'killed the legacy'. Then the tax stuff went down and nobody wanted anything to do with her."

Shaking her head, Lorelai let out what she had learned from Paris for the first time. "You cannot tell anybody about Paris's troubles. Not a soul. Especially Rory. I may have mocked Paris in the past for being a robot, but tonight has changed things for me so much. When I drew her she managed to stay still except for a few steps and stumbles here and there, but if she's doing this..." She didn't want to voice it out, but knew she had to. "She's a good woman, Sook. I've gotten to know her over the last year, more than I ever did when she was younger or a pain in our side. The last thing she wants to do is be stuck in a terrible job she hates. If she wants to do this, I have to understand."

A pause. "The thing is though..." With her voice hitching, she let out the confession. "She's beautiful. Beneath all of those emotional, mental and physical layers, is a real woman who has a classical beauty that's just plain ignored. She has soft lines, supple curves, and her bustline..." She shook her head and smiled. "There's so much emotion she's pushed down over the years, and I know her mother made her feel ashamed of her body. She even told me during one of her lunches last year that her mom wanted her to get surgery to smooth out the little divot she has on her nose. And you know how she wears long-sleeved shirts even when the weather is at its hottest."

"I sketched her out, and it all just showed through perfectly. It...worked. I don't think I could get that with any of the other models there. She's perfect for me, and as much as my gut is telling me to not go back next week or blab on knowing her, I have to go back. I...I **want** to. It's not her fault that I just happened to be assigned to the class she's modeling in, or that we're in this wacky situation that she can't see me at all."

Despite how odd she felt about the entire situation, Sookie managed a small smile, playing with her Band-Aid covered fingers as she took in all Lorelai had to say. Thinking for a moment, she thought of how to respond, before going straight for what her gut told her.

"Well...I expected jokes and wittiness about the naked human form," she admitted. "Instead, you see Paris in the buff and you feel for her." Sookie took in a deep breath, running a hand down the leather of the console next to her. "I didn't know she wasn't doing too well."

"I tried to deny it, but until I saw her this evening I thought she'd be able to get out of it without doing anything rash. This is it, her Hail Mary. I am not going to say anything to throw either of us out of that class. I need it in order to keep me from driving myself into an early grave from working too much. She needs it to keep afloat."

"You sure--"

"I know. She'll do anything she can legally before she has to go for any kind of loan. If she feels this will pay off Yale, well, it's artistic. She's keeping busy and I won't say a word about it."

Sookie was still unsure, but she knew Lorelai would get through the class. Paris or not, she had paid for thirteen weeks of art instruction, and her best friend would get through them. "I guess I'm OK with this. Concerned, mainly for her, but OK. She's an adult, and if she wants to do this, who am I to judge?" She shook her head. "I just keep thinking you've known her since she was fifteen and it's a little odd."

Lorelai nodded. "I will tell you one thing though." Again, she looked around both ways. "She's got guts, putting herself out there."

"I'd say something else, but I don't want to offend her," Sookie said in response. "Just, if you feel uncomfortable with the class, let me know." She began to put the SUV back into drive. "I don't want to spend every Friday from here on out wondering how high-strung Paris was this week about being drawn."

"I'm not even going to see her again this week," Lorelai told Sookie. "Until next Thursday I don't have to see her." She smiled and hoped that would be the last thought she would have of Paris after spilling the beans to her best friend, who she knew would keep the secret.

The chef had completely different thoughts. As she took in the details about Caleb, she noticed that Lorelai's excitement about him was much lower compared to her 'rant' about Paris. As she merged back onto the 91, she looked at Lorelai and pursed her lips.

_Last time you see her this week. Yeah, I think your dreams are going to disagree with you there, Lor._ With that, Sookie wondered if she had just caused more trouble than help for her co-partner in giving her the drawing classes, but knew it was no longer her place to interfere.

She could only hope the next twelve weeks went without any further incidents, or surprises.  


* * *

Janet had barely moved since she came back home.

Likewise, Tanna had tried to numb herself with the season two boxset of _The Sopranos_. Anything to get their mind off what they had discovered hours before.

But they both came back to the same conclusion as they drove back to the Workshop to bring Paris home.

"We can't tell her," Tanna said, fumbling with the radio knob. "We just can't. You know her; something goes wrong and we'll never hear the end of it. Like you with Dylan."

Janet cringed deeply. "I know Dylan was wrong now. I'm over Dylan! Keep rubbing it in, please, Tan."

"I'm just saying...if she finds out Lorelai was there, you don't want to be in the room. Or the census subdivision when she finds out."

"She won't know. We're good secret-keepers," Janet reminded her. "Remember when you aced that test even though you had sizzurp that night last May?"

"Darn it, J, don't remind me!" The small prodigy pouted, remembering how she was fooled into thinking what she thought was a very odd-tasting slurpee drink at a party turned out to be dosed with a quarter-bottle of Vicks 44D. "I still haven't gotten over that."

"Or the sixteen hours of sleep." The athlete brought things back to the topic at hand. "Anyways, when Paris asks, we don't know anything. Nothing at all."

"What if she did see Lorelai after class?"

"She couldn't. I know the procedure, we're gone ten minutes before the class dismisses, we can't stay in the building. She's already outside." They pulled up in front, where indeed Paris was waiting to climb into the cramped little Elantra. She smiled at them outside the window and Janet returned it, while reminding Tanna what not to do.

"Remember, not a word," she said through her smile before clicking the lock and opening it up for Paris to get into the backseat. The blonde looked a little exhausted and limped slightly on her feet, but was otherwise unaffected.

"Thank you again," Paris said as she slid in and put on her seatbelt. "I wasn't going to tell Logan or Rory anything about this, so I'm glad you just picked me up after class right off."

"No problem." Janet smiled back. "So, how was it?"

"Oddly quiet, kind of relaxing. I was able to zone out staring at my reflection and when the curtain went back in front of me, it took me a minute to realize it." Her eyes widened. "It was like I was in a trance. I thought I was going to be able to sort out my homework, but then it was just done without a thought at all."

"That is how it is, you get almost used to it." She pulled away from the building. "What about the bathroom?"

"I haven't had anything to drink since nine this morning so it wasn't an issue. And the other two models were downright respectful. The other girl doesn't have her right leg for instance, but you'd never know it by how much of a badass she is, and the guy? A downright teddy bear. You were right, Janet, I had nothing to fear at all."

"Did you see anybody from the drawing class?" Tanna asked neutrally, looking in the back to see the slight blonde shaking her head.

"Once the curtain was drawn, that was it. The girl and I headed for the cafeteria for a bite to eat, the guy headed home. We came back downstairs and everyone in the class was gone. It's about as smooth a process as you'd imagine. Except for the pain in my hip." She grimaced, moving her leg aside to try to shield the shock of pain along her side. "I'll definitely do it again."

Janet smiled. "Nothing to complain about?" She wanted to see if a long trademark rant was on the way, but Paris just pursed her lips.

"If you're expecting me to comment on unwashed masses and unaccredited drawing, it's not happening. I liked it. I'm anonymous and I'm just another person in that building. Maybe it'll be a part of my autobio one day but for now, it's a quiet and therapeutic way to make money without being stuck in some dead-end job."

"But why take that instead of clerking or interning?" Tanna wondered. "You have so many skills, Paris."

"I know I do," she admitted. "But..." A weary sigh. "Honestly, this hasn't been the kindest year for me. I don't have money to fall back on any longer and you don't know how defeated I was after I lost the editorship. It's been one hit after another and I'm just ready to let life play out as it may, even if it's not the way I expected. I mean, I didn't have to do this, apply at the Workshop and model in the nude. But it helps. It's given me a boost nothing else has in a while."

"It's also got us back in your life," Janet said, turning down the radio. "I know when we were living together, I thought you were a pain in the ass."

"That's because I was." Paris's clarity stunned Janet silent. "I know we could both say that's not the truth, but it was. I was the driven perfectionist and you spent all your time exercising, and we were both a toxic mix together. I should have been able to live with your differences, but I'm...well, it took some bad tax advice for my parents to see the light. Meanwhile I made Tanna suffer by belittling her when she really needed support. I feel guilty about it--"

"Paris, please don't." Interrupting her, Janet hoped to help the blonde understand. "You were the way you are because you didn't know any other way. Trust us, any antagonism we held for you disappeared the moment Rory grabbed the reins of that paper." A pause, as she took in a breath.

"Any other circumstance where you're breaking down? The advisor comes in to help you out. That's what happened when one of our girls botched her 400m; we didn't overreact and push her off the team just because of some bad runs. We supported her, helped her get back on track and it all worked out. Instead, Logan talked Rory into keeping you in your bunker, didn't even call the advisor and pushed out a paper that was not only unapproved by the advisor, but certainly wasn't good in any sense of the word. You were having a nervous breakdown and they all made fun of you and pushed you out." Harsh anger filled Janet's words. "That they even put out that edition with your name on the masthead, it was unbelievable."

Paris was stunned. "I always thought it was well-received. Even Doyle--"

"It wasn't. Doyle couldn't say anything negative, lest he get the Huntzberger blackball. We all know that. Paris..." She looked back in the rear-view mirror. "The corrections column in the next edition was three columns long. Multiple misspellings. Incorrect names. There were even a couple stories which weren't continued further on. Outside the newsroom, everyone felt it was terrible. If not for the fear of a hit piece disguised as 'investigative journalism' due to the Huntzberger funding, we all knew Rory and Logan would have been tossed out. Instead, they got rewarded by the faculty."

"Janet--"

"It's the truth. The student union actually wanted to go to bat for you, but you isolated yourself out. Nobody could've blamed you for doing that. By the time you came out of hiding from your apartment, we all just assumed that the faculty supported Rory as editor and you didn't want to go back in. That you were content with your role."

Paris was quiet. She didn't even know anything about how the student body felt because Doyle and Rory had held back so many details of the aftermath of her breakdown. She just shut out the world and let the pieces fall where they may, and where they ended up with her was pretty much out of the newspaper with a vanity role to save face.

She hated it. She wanted to still be editor, to have someone pull her off. But instead of any of the newspaper staff intervening, they isolated her. Left her alone in the fort.

Alone.

She took in a deep breath. Hated confronting the reality that from the moment she had been named editor and Rory came back to the paper, the staff had done what Francine Jarvis tried, but barely failed to do to her as student body president at Chilton.

"They...they forced me out, didn't they?" she admitted, a creak in her voice. Tanna turned around in her seat, her features firm, emotions angered. "I...I was just the stupid...in-the-way woman that gets bumped off in act three so school-dumping Rory gets her triumph and the guy at the end, and the editorship." Paris's voice raised higher. "I...I was a good editor. I tried to organize things. Sure, the hat thing was a little crazy, but--"

"Paris!" Tanna suddenly broke in. An action which would have earned her a probable beheading in freshman year, her ired voice threw Paris back a foot in her seat.

Tanna trembled as her nose wrinkled, and she finally was able to unload what she hadn't been able to in three years. "Rory thinks she's good and that you're to be walked all over. Yeah, she's real good."

"T--"

"Don't, Janet. Do. Not." Her eyes blazed with anger. "I am going to get this out of my system and we are going to give Par the kick in the ass she needs." The child prodigy made the double major quake in fear. "So yeah, Rory's so good. Sure, she was a homewrecker, but she was good. Sure, she pissed away what was probably a guaranteed death of a shit secret society and Pulitzer-winning investigation that doesn't care about safety, doesn't care that 79 people don't give a crap about some guy's balls, somehow dodged a jail sentence by stealing a yacht, and worst of all, only needed three months to get the paper from you."

She took in a breath. "All the while you're having a good relationship with a respected professor. Yeah, a little unorthodox, but you're nuts for him. But then he passes suddenly. You get teased about him passing while you're having sex with him. I mean...what the fuck?! What kind of question is that to ask? You lose the love of your life and the first question out of your 'best friend' is 'did he die sexing you up'? I don't care if it's teasing, it's disrespectful.

"Then you get a good guy. Would go to the ends of the earth for you. But oh gosh, no. We can't be happy for you; we have to tease you mercilessly because, wow, you have a loving and cute little relationship that's a little dysfunctional, but not like a mindfuck where after a little flattery Hot Blondie gets taken back even as he's a walking minefield of syphilis from having a ménage a who-the-hell-knows with a wedding party? Then your parents flee the country because of their taxes. No 'oh my God sorry Paris lemme drop all of my minor little issues to take care of you', but a 'please help my grandma with her little society crap'!"

"Tanna Moira Schrick, will you stop it?!" Janet shook her head; Tanna had never become this agitated before.

"But Paris--"

"Paris knows all this has happened. Look at her, she's white as a sheet right now." Paris was indeed huddled in the corner, taken very aback by Tanna' sudden outburst. "Par, I'm so sorry." She gave a disapproving look towards the younger girl. "Geeze, Tanna, how long have you been holding that in? And how did you know all that?"

"I...I actually saw Doyle a few times last year," she admitted. "He did some venting, especially after the paper stuff went down." Wincing, she looked at Paris. "I...it's been sticking in my craw for years."

Clearing her throat and trying to recover, the blonde finally spoke. "I...I didn't know you felt so strongly."

"I never thought I did either. But then I get away from my parents and live a normal life, and your life suddenly looked like the better one, and Rory should not have done what she did to you." She shook her head. "Did she even give any thought to helping you break your lease and moving you and her somewhere better?"

"I...I tried to ask. But then my pride got in the way." Grimacing as they pulled up to her building, Paris felt the usual spark of fear of going home return. "It's home to me, no matter how dirty it might be."

Tanna looked up at the building. The 'doo-wop group' wasn't there tonight, but a blinking and flickering front porch light was. She felt fearful of Paris exiting the vehicle. "Par, just because your parents screwed up doesn't make you one. You shouldn't punish yourself by staying here."

"I signed a two-year lease. I have to go through with it. And really, I'm fine."

Tanna shook her head. "Once you get the seventh lock in place." She looked towards Janet, silently pleading with her to take action. "Is there any way to get you out of here?"

"I can't. Rory's paying part of the rent."

Janet shook her head. "Yeah, but she also gets to run away to Logan's suite when things get bad for her." She looked up at the apartment. "There's nothing you could do to get out of it?"

"Not really. I have tried to look for loopholes in the lease agreement, but it's pretty much ironclad that I stick by the lease unless I somehow get sick."

Both women grimaced, with Tanna sighing. "So we basically have to hope for asbestos suddenly coming out of the shower one day out of the blue."

"If I get one. I have five minutes of hot water every four hours." Janet's mouth dropped in horror.

"And just why did you and Doyle find this your dream place again?"

"I had a good place lined up in sophomore year, but the feds seized my lease because my parents paid for it. It was this at the last minute or struggle to get on-campus housing, which like my finances is still pegged to my old wealth, so I was on last priority."

"So it was last resort."

"Last? Yes? Definitely isn't a resort by any means." She groaned, looking up and feeling the dread of the last few months return anew. "I don't even like guns but I've been thinking about getting one."

"Paris...don't." Janet looked at her former roommate and felt horrible. "Look..." _I wonder how open she'll be to this._ "If, and I'm saying if, there is any way to get out of your lease...how would you feel about moving in with me?"

The blonde's eyes widened, but she immediately felt she shouldn't. "I...I can't. You and Kevin--"

"Kevin and I have plenty of room in the master bedroom. I'll just move my exercise stuff to the living room and he'll put the computer stuff in the bedroom. Paris...I can definitely make room."

"I've only been knowing you again for a few weeks," Paris said, nervously. "We'll get on our nerves all over again."

"Better to just be fighting with each other than the inevitable armed robber." Tanna looked at them both debating and brought in her own opnion.

"Par, you said you want to better yourself before you graduate. And this place cannot get better unless you find a time machine and turn it back to 1897."

Frowning, Paris knew Janet was right, but knew she couldn't put her friend out without exploring all the avenues she could first.

"Let me see what I can do," she said quietly. "I'd rather wait until after break so there's chaos during finals, but...it's under consideration." A nod. "Thank you for the offer."

"Thank you for considering it." Janet smiled. "At least you got a fun night out of this."

"I did. And I am pleased you brought me over." She began to open the door. "I'll see you sometime this weekend perhaps to try that two mile jog. Emphasis on try." Janet smiled, rolling her eyes as she was glad to see Paris willing to go forward with her help.

"Can't wait. You have a good day tomorrow." Paris waved slightly as Tanna got out a bubbly goodbye, and Janet stayed behind, waiting for Paris to get into the building before pulling away.

Immediately the gears within Tanna's brain were rolling, which Janet noticed straightaway.

"So she doesn't know," Tanna surmised. "Do you think she'll find out Ms. Gilmore was there?"

"It's pretty doubtful. She seemed pretty zen about everything, so I assume she did the model thing and left. Paris has a work ethic that makes a Gary steelworker seem like a slacker."

"True." Tanna wrinkled her nose up as she shared more about what she thought. "At least we know the apartment wasn't her choice."

"Nobody lives in that building by choice, T. We really have to get her out of it."

Tanna nodded. "You're sure Kevin would go for letting her stay?"

"We actually talked about it after she was over Monday morning to go over our workout plan. He's open to it, and we have much more soundproofing than we ever did at Durfee."

"Uh-huh." Tanna raised an eyebrow. "You're lucky I still like you after all those nights I slept on the couch to help you and Dylan out."

"You're still on that?"

"My gosh, Janet, he came out of the room naked a few times! He was a scary-looking man, both physically and genitally!" The curly-haired prodigy cringed at the memory. "But you and Kev are more at an even keel with each other. Much less rough and more loving and kind. I can certainly handle you two."

"Funny you should say that, it's like a role reversal. Now we're the quiet ones, while you and Marcus--"

"Hey!" Tanna held up her hand. "Wait a minute. How did we get to the point where we determined Paris has a crush on Ms. Gilmore anyways?"

"I don't know. I just kinda saw it when we were all at Durfee. Paris was into older people, Lorelai is bubbly and happy and seemed to at least make Paris smile and right now, whenever she sees her, she cheers up."

"But is she even single? I can't even remember?"

"Ahh, you have not finessed MySpace snooping yet, I see." Janet giggled. "I friended Lorelai on there just because Stars Hollow is still interesting to me. I did it in April, and in May her status went from engaged to single. Obviously something's going on there because her posts went from 'giddy and sane bridezilla' to 'serene and sort of lovelorn innkeeper'."

Tanna wiggled her fingers. "But...we don't know much more than that. We know Paris like's Lorelai's company, but not much else."

"Riddle me this then; Paris has calmed over the years. She's a little more realistic, if still driven. Her first relationship with Jamie just ended because she got bored. Asher for obvious reasons, and Doyle, they were good but with her drive, it just wasn't meant to be. Lorelai Gilmore, even though she doesn't seem it on the surface, is just as hard-charging."

"I still don't know," Tanna expressed, feeling a bit of aversion to supporting the two women. "Besides Paris's spring break experiment that did not work out, we have no indication she likes women as more than friends. Plus, we cannot tell her Lorelai is in that class. If she finds out she will literally break down." A pause. "Can't we just set her up with some guy?"

"She doesn't want to be set up with anybody. That's the problem." The runner continued to think of what to do even as her and Tanna came back to her apartment to see Kevin falling asleep to a _CSI_ rerun. "And it is a little odd to think of setting those two up for anything."

"Then we should not. Maybe we just stay out of the way and look at the clues to see if something is there?"

"Maybe." Janet nodded. "But priority one; Lorelai can't know. We know she knows Paris is the model, but beyond that, we can't find out anything because you know she's going to hold it close. Rory truly can't know just because of how she is now."

"Isn't that the truth?" She looked at Kevin before kicking his foot. "Hey, Kevin!"

The curly-haired man shot up like a light, as Tanna's voice scared him out of a slumber. "AHH!" Tanna laughed back as Janet narrowed her eyes in disapproval.

"I love doing that!" she teased, as Janet rolled her eyes, then gave Kevin a glance.

"I really don't know why I'm friends with her," she cracked, though her voice was soft. "Sorry about that, Kev."

"Ehh, I'm good." The two kissed as Janet immediately broke down their night of studying, socialization and running Paris to and from class. He expressed both delight and confusion from hearing about how the odd innkeeper was to the former roommate of his girlfriend.

"So...you're not telling Paris, that Lorelai is on the other side of the glass." Both girls nodded. "Isn't that unethical?"

"A little, yes. But we're not costing Paris money because she had to switch or resign her class. It's thirteen weeks, it'll go by fast."

"Yes...but what if Lorelai falls in love?" Kevin said.

Janet scoffed at the notion. "I don't think that'll happen--"

"Jay, according to what you know of her she's a 37 year-old woman with two failed engagements whose using this class to spark her life back up. And now she sees Paris, a lovely young woman, as a sexually beguiling being for the next thirteen weeks." A smile. "Three words; mid-life crisis. Something's gonna happen."

"You really think that?"

Knowingly, Kevin nodded. "Remember how I told you my parents met? Months upon months stuck on a cruise ship and they were the only stations of sanity for each other."

"But these are two women!"

"Doesn't matter. Eventually Paris won't have the window to save her and when she sees Lorelai, who's been sketching out her every curve for two months and probably softening her strokes by the end...it's just an inevitable path."

Tanna tried to counterpoint with a different argument despite her rooting interest. "And if Paris turns out to be temperamental as she poses through the class? What if Lorelai develops a negative opinion of her somehow?"

Janet understood and argued back her theory. "It can't happen, not with Ms. Sandberg. She tries that, she's out, and Paris is very by the book somehow. I doubt it would even get to that point." She shrugged at her boyfriend. "Kevin's right; it's all going to have to be on Lorelai's end to take action. We can't really interfere at all."

Tanna understood. "Agreed. Right now Paris has been a pain in her side. But by the end, who knows? She is certainly much different than she was in that first year with all she had going on."

"And she's humbled. She's still hard-working as she's ever been, but she'll never let anything stop her. Lorelai and her share that for sure." The two continued to talk as Kevin balanced out the conversation for another hour before Tanna eventually had to leave in order to get in some studying before bed. After departing, Janet spread out on the couch as Kevin looked down at her.

"You really want those two to be happy, don't you?" he noted. "You barely talked about Paris since we met, but now she's back in our life and she's going to stay in it, isn't she?"

"It's inevitable. Like that one song says, 'a change is gonna come'." Thinking about her friend back in her apartment, Janet knew she wouldn't rest until the fiery blonde was safe and sound with her and Kevin.

She just wondered how Lorelai would bring that move into play.  


* * *

Later back in the Hollow, Lorelai was cuddled in her pajamas in bed, Paul Anka snoozing away at the foot of her bed. She was still pleased about all that had happened through the night, especially with Caleb.

But her mind was filled with other images, which she was currently working out on her sketchpad. The eyeglasses she rarely brought out rested on her temples as she finessed from memory a drawing which just came to her and she had to get out.

A few weeks ago she had stopped at Paris's apartment to see Rory, but her daughter was instead out at the Pub with the rest of the Brigade. The blonde seemed to be in a low ebb, and instead of leaving, Lorelai decided to come in and have a catch up on their lives.

She had found it a nice release to have someone else besides Sookie to talk to about life post-Luke, and she deeply empathized with Paris about the loss of Doyle to Sooner Country. The conversation soon wandered well away from exes and onto the future, where Paris was bound and determined to have all of her dreams come true despite the hamstring of her finances.

An image had caught in her mind that she had not been able to get out since that night.

As they talked, Paris looked out the window, her hands buried in the sleeves of a heavy hoodie Lorelai knew the girl had kept from her father, a green sweatshirt featuring the worn logo of her beloved and long-gone Whalers. The men's extra large shirt seemed to bury Paris, but also keep her nice and warm. The lighting in the room was dim, the brightest one in the room outside of a couple soft lamps being the monitor of her Mac, casting what seemed to be a whitish glow against her face.

With the confidence boost Ms. Sandberg had given her of her drawing abilities that night, Lorelai spent the hour before bed, rather than reading one of her celebrity magazines, forming the drawing which would be her submission for the next week. She decided to leave out the hood of the sweatshirt and concentrate on Paris's face and features, the image of the sad woman frozen in her mind.

As she went forward, her heart caught on the imagery flowing from her pencil. She had only in this evening realized that after so long, Paris's nose was dotted with freckling that was only apparent up close and without distractions. The little hairs along her neck. The way her brows furrowed in concentration or annoyance. The way her upper lip stuck out just slightly when she was angry, and how her cheeks colored depending on each emotion she had.

Her heart tingled as she continued with the sketch, going on and on with it until she felt it was perfect. She would probably work on it a little more after she came back from Hartford the next evening, but she looked it over and sighed.

"You really are a good subject, aren't you, Par?" She shrugged, seeming to find her sketch perfect except for the issues with eye shape and pupil shading. "Geeze, it's like she was designed for art, wasn't she?" Her question was answered with a soft yowl from Paul Anka, seemingly in one of his worry dreams, though Lorelai still took it as an answer.

"You're a dog, you don't know much about art." She laughed to herself, filling in a few more details as the image from her mind came into reality on the paper. She finished it up, finding it as finessed as it could be, then set it aside with a glance at her clock.

"Whoa! 12:15am already?" She looked around the room. "Wow. I guess Sookie was right that I was going to have fun with this class!" She looked at the drawing. "I just didn't know it was going to be something like this." She closed the sketchbook and slid it under the bed, then brought the covers over and fell asleep within twenty minutes, pleased with her work and willing her mind to fade off by thinking about her 'coffee meeting' with Caleb.

However, her mind had other ideas, and the last image in her mind as she finally fell asleep was of a soft and beguiling olive-skinned young woman she had met as a temperamental young sophomore, who had become a strong and firm young woman making her way through life like she did, against all odds.

Despite her mind wanting her to move towards knowing Caleb in more than a friendly manner, it seemed as if her heart had taken a surprisingly liking to Paris Gellar.

_He might be a nice rebound_ , her soul expressed, _but Paris knows you more. And you know her._

__Sleep came easily to Lorelai. However, her dreams were filled with images of the blonde intellectual, and somehow she knew that the post-Luke period of her life just grew more complicated than she had ever figured...  


* * *

**  
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To be continued...   
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**  



	3. Gaining Perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second week of Introductory Figure Drawing causes major changes to Paris's life as she knows it, and she finds an unexpected ally. Meanwhile Lorelai tries to work out her emotions with her new friend, while trying not to find herself further entranced by Paris.

**Title: Drawing Attention | Chapter Three | Gaining Perspective  
Author: **Nate  
 **Pairing:** Paris/Lorelai, other original characters for other established supporting characters, and one original character meant for relationship purposes. Rory/Logan acknowledged but certainly not shipped.  
 **Spoilers:** You know what to expect by now; post season six where Lorelai still broke up with Luke and never got with Christopher, while Paris and Doyle broke up on good terms. Olivia and Lucy are here too, but drive Paris up a wall, and in this story, Finn has a much different role than seen in most fics with him.  
 **Rating:** PG-13 (artistic nudity, profanity and sensuality, along with some sexual situations, but still nothing that couldn't go on TV with some clever editing. Also, a secret _Scandal_ joke is in here somewhere; brownie points to who can pick it out.)  
 **Disclaimer:** Hahahaha, you think David S. Rosenthal would ever come up with this in season seven? You would be wrong. No matter the case, its Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, Hofflund-Polone and Warner Bros. Television who have these characters, and not me, so I'm not making money off this. All other trademarks and services are the property of their respective owners. Apologies in advance for any incorrect descriptions of a figure drawing class; I'm going off what I know from other media, and my lack of drawing skills that don't involve maps. Another note that the coffee shop is my own creation for fictional purposes and doesn't exist in real life.  
 **Archiving:** Only where posted. Anyone else, ask first.  
 **Summary:** The second week of _Introductory Figure Drawing_ causes major changes to Paris's life as she knows it, and she finds an unexpected ally. Meanwhile Lorelai tries to work out her emotions with her new friend, while trying not to find herself further entranced by Paris.  
 **Author's** **Notes:** What is this? An update nearly two weeks after the last update to a fic I wrote? I can hear shrieks of shock. Or is that a groan? Whatever the case, here we are, as I ramp up to having new stuff ready for July 20th, the International Day of Femslash, which may include this story and _Longing_ , and if I can get through it all, _Innkeeper's Lover_ , but no promises. I'm really enjoying writing this one, and I hope you enjoy it too.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story (and hopefully to those who will; please do and let me know what you thing). And congratulations to all in California who will be able to marry, and those who can utilize those federal benefits denied by DOMA, it is all so deserved.  


* * *

Paris couldn't take it much longer. Thursday seemed like a distant year to her, like 2001 seemed like the future when she was seven.

She had been bound and determined to spend her Monday night having a nice and quiet classic cram session in advance of finals in the next few weeks. Even though she had built up a rapport with Janet and Tanna, even they knew the words 'study night' left in response to a text asking if she wanted to do something after class were non-negotiable.

Sadly, Lucy had not received the message, and after Rory had made the error of giving her new friend Paris's number for texting, had spent most of the day trying to pester Paris into going out with them to some event. A polite 'no, thank you' text had been returned with what Paris thought was an awful mangling of the word 'please', multiple exclamation points, and somehow, emoticons. _I didn't even know those existed in the SMS standard,_ Paris thought as she tried to decode Lucy's begging and pleading to go out.

She didn't understand why Olivia and Lucy had an obsession with her at all and felt their behavior towards her was a bit too scary. Eventually she decided to just shut off her phone and bask in the silence...

Only for Rory to call on the hard line and ask why she was being so mean, according to a multitude of reasons.

Paris really wished she didn't have a land line at that moment.

"I can't. This final is not going to do itself, Gilmore."

"But you have two weeks until it. Come on, go out and socialize."

"I'm sorry--"

"You know what? I'm sick of this," Rory said strongly, startling Paris with the sudden acid tinge to her words. "They've been trying to be your friend and they're wonderful, but you keep ignoring them. I don't care if I have to pull you out of there, you're going out tonight."

"Again, I'm studying--"

"For God's sake, you have six months left of college and you've done nothing wild."

By now, Paris's eyes were flaming. "That's because I've been trying to survive college." With a bite to her voice, she decided to make a point. "Not all of us have a parentage that pays their entire way."

Rory ignored it, being used to the blonde's outbursts. "Just be ready at seven."

"But--" Paris found herself hung up on, and Rory winning yet another argument. She slammed the phone down on the desktop in frustration. "For fuck's sake!" With a growl, she knew she'd end up having to show up or be once again teased by everyone in the peer group she was stuck in by force, not choice.

A few hours later she was in a booth in the Pub, nursing a Diet Coke and disgusted by the coziness these random art students shared with her best friend. She had spent most of the night fending off a few male advances, and trying to avoid Alex and Olivia while Rory teased her about how much of a hermit she was being.

Eventually though, things ended up coming to a head. Somehow the subject of freshman Spring Break came up between Alex, Olivia and Rory and while the jukebox was turned up, Paris sipped her soda, with her ear catching on the conversation between her brunette classmate and the tall art student.

"So I ask what she'd suggest I do, and all the sudden...she's kissing me. Like, full on! Freaked me out and for a moment her lips were all over mine. I shove her off and then she's just asking all of these questions about how I kiss, and I can't respond, because girls don't do that."

_Girls don't do that?_ Paris scoffed internally. Louise was openly bisexual, and though Madeline had moved west to pursue her fashion degree she knew both women still had a love for each other that certainly wasn't traditional, but still very deep.

"But was it hot?" Olivia wondered. "Those lips look nice."

"Again, I don't know." Paris gazed down as Rory looked at her. "Truthfully her sex life is nothing I'd care to think about."

Now she felt even more humiliated. She knew Rory was under the assumption she wasn't hearing a word as the music created an artificial bubble effect.

_I'm fucking deluded_ , she thought bitterly, remembering how much she had once loved Rory as more than a friend, but found those feelings dissipating after Logan's corruption, and completely gone after the paper coup.

"Hey, what about the professor?" Lucy asked. "How did you take it?"

Rory's face lit up. "She was weird during that. She took up pipe smoking because it reminded her of him. I didn't understand that, and she wasn't ashamed of it. I'd be."

Paris clenched her fists as the three women teased her love life, moving onto Logan.

And then Colin joined in.

"I once caught them fucking in the paper office. It looked ridiculous," he noted. "I don't understand who would ever have sex with that girl. She's kind of kinky from what I heard and--"

_I thought I was gonna have fun tonight, not have my sex life roasted_. She slammed her fist against the table. It seemed as the alcohol kept coming, the filters came off.

Well, most of them.

"Bloody hell." Surprisingly while the Cosmos and other frilly drinks flowed freely towards the women and Colin had gotten in four Buds, Finn had slowly let a Jack and Coke marinate all night, sipping it slowly. "So she has an odd sex life. It's no reason for her to be teased about it. From what I've heard, French Birdie has been normal."

"Finn." After forty minutes, Rory had let go all sense of propriety towards her friend. "She claimed her first time ruined Harvard for her." The music had faded out as the album ended, making her voice very clear to Paris. "Who does that? Her interview was like a month before, so no, her decision to have sex didn't ruin Harvard. She did that all on her own."

She laughed and took another sip of her drink. "I mean at least I was in love with Dean when I first did it. She probably had it on some checklist between 'take over the world' and 'oil her gears'."

Finn took a nervous look towards Paris's booth. "Rory, knock it off," he said, pleading with her. "You're being mean."

"Oh, am I? Like she's been to me for years. Listen here, Finn, I took it long enough and now I can stand up to her."

Now she was paying attention. Paris had felt humiliated enough. She understood venting, and comedic exaggeration. But most of what she was telling these two girls, it made Rory seem like someone she wasn't. She took in a couple deep breaths, finishing up her soft drink before setting a ten on the table she dreaded parting with, placing it under the glass.

Rory had moved onto another story as another album kicked in on the jukebox.

"She hates working," she claimed. "When I had my falling out with my mom and I needed her for an event with my Grandma she made it seem like it was hard to be there. Like there was a problem--"

Paris got up from her seat, both hurt and angry from her drunk friend. She didn't even know Rory any longer and hated how Logan had somehow turned her into an entitled society brat who treated her as furniture.

With a huff she came over to the side of the seat where Finn had saw her and knew something ugly was about to happen. Not about to get in Paris's way he hurried out of the way, but ready to intervene.

The blonde's eyes blazed with anger, her heart rushing blood through her as she kicked at a chair.

"So she--"

BANG!!

"Yes, there was a problem," she said through gritted teeth. "The problem was...I had never worked a day in my life until I was **forced** to when my parents bankrupted me!" The three women turned to face Paris, with Rory daring to speak up first.

"Paris." She quickly went from catty to seemingly back to friendly. "I'm sorry, I thought--"

"You thought I couldn't hear you. That I wasn't cognizant you were making my sex life a fucking joke to be laughed at?" She shook her head, trembling. "That I was out of my mind because I panic easily. I didn't even want to come. I wanted to be studying. But no, you think I'm now your lapdog, that I owe you just because you got me back on the paper after my breakdown."

She sniffled back, knowing if she went further she would probably end up with the cops called. "I can't talk to you now. Stay with these two tonight, I don't care. But don't mock me. Because right now, to me?" She held up her hand. "You're no fucking better than Summer Sheffield." Paris then fled the room quickly as all three women were left behind in a daze, while Colin smirked.

"Man, she should be that assertive more. If she was like that in bed--"

Just then, Finn glared at him. He had a soft spot in his heart for Paris and to hear her demeaned in this way was too much to bear. He had to see how she was doing. Putting his glass down hard on the bar he glared at all four of his friends, disgusted.

"You go have your own fun ya bloody wankers," he seethed out. "Don't ever talk to Barbie like that again!" He quickly fled from the Pub to search for Paris, scared the harsh 'girl talk' would make her do something rash. Rory shook it off and got back to girl talk with Lucy while Colin flirted shamelessly with Olivia, completely oblivious to the hurt she had just caused to her oldest Chilton friend.  


* * *

After twenty minutes Finn eventually found Paris, her brown hoodie completely up, huddled on a park bench looking right at the Christmas tree set up on the Green in front of the Center Church of the Green across the street, her knees closed together. He approached slowly, sliding off his warm cotton jacket ready to offer it if needed. He sat down gingerly next to her and took in a few breaths.

"Pet had no business saying that garbage about you, Barbie," he said, setting his hand on her back. "I support none of that at all, and those broads seem brainless." Paris looked up, her face wracked with hurt and shock as she found the Australian next to her.

"Why drag me out and 'introduce' me to those two if she was just going to belittle me?" she wondered out loud. "I told her many times I didn't--"

"I know, I know." Without a word he draped his jacket over her, content to be warm in his sweater. "I warned her at lunch to not bother. I know how you've been since the coup, bird. But she's so buried in Logan lately nothing else matters."

"You...you don't have to help. Or care," she said. "I know you could care less about me."

"And what makes you say that?" Finn wondered with a smile. "Come on, you're a smart little bint with a sailor mouth on you and a hellfire both in the classroom and in the sack. Doyle was a lucky bastard."

"Great, you're--"

He held up his hand. "No...no, no mocking here. I might be carrying a high BAC at times but I'm not deluded, you two were cute as could be, perfect. A pity that he had to go." Another assuring brush against her back. "Much better than _War of the Roses_ Rory and Logan. Not that I'd ever tell 'em to their faces."

"You...you mean that?" Paris brought the jacket closer as her cheeks were deep red and she shivered. "You're not saying it to be nice and try to get me back to Rory?"

"You wanna walk home and some company?" Finn offered, taking her hand. "I promise you, Barbie, I have no designs on you. Just wanting to be your mate here, 'cause you won't be with Samantha and Carrie back at the Pub." He held up his hands. "I'm not even buzzed tonight."

"I didn't think you were, you were slow-sipping that drink all night." She got up and offered a small smile. "What about Colin though?"

"Colin...is gonna be in big trouble in the morning with Steph," he surmised. "Meanwhile I'm a man of the wind, and it's taking me nowhere near a lassie tonight. And frankly, you are cute, but I'm sure we'd tear each other to shreds if we slept with each other."

"I think you'd be right. Same; you're a good guy, but I have no need to sleep with you." She brought her arms into the sleeves. "You...you're not going to get into trouble with Logan, are you?"

"What's he care? He's in London and we barely talk," Finn admitted. "I can tell you need the support, any of it, and I feel bad that I never get a moment alone with you. You just see me as the drunken guy and I'd love to have someone not think that before we go our separate ways."

Paris snorted. "I don't think that. You're eccentric, not really drunk. For one thing, you hold it in and burn it off, and you drink for enjoyment, not to feel intoxicated. You don't drive after a bar night, you know when to say when and as far as I've heard you've never binged." A smile. "Really, you have it under control."

Finn felt his stomach float at the compliment as they headed out from the Green confines. He didn't think anybody noted his drinking demeanor. "I'm hoping to make it less so by the end of next semester." He moved close. "Don't tell a soul this. The reason I slowly drink lately..."

Paris nodded, making a zipping motion. "When I eventually take over the family business I just want to be down to drinking for health benefits, not fun. As much as I've enjoyed my endeavors while on the sauce, I don't want it to result later on in a scandal or embarrassment for my family, when I get my own. I'm trying to cut off. I actually had 3/4 of a Coke tonight rather than a half in that drink."

"So...you're trying to better yourself." Finn nodded. "An admirable goal."

"I think an admirable goal would be having your friendship, Barbie, and to think of you as just as strong as Reporter Girl. In fact, you're much more than her lately."

"Well, thank you." She narrowed her eyes. "Do you really have to call me Barbie though?"

"Of course I do. She's done everything, like you have. It's a compliment, mate, and no malice is meant."

Paris blushed. "That's...good then. Just as long as you don't compare me to the one that said 'math is hard'."

"Bloody hell, no!" With a laugh, he walked Paris home, hoping to get an invite up to pick her brain and find out what was going on, while the blonde was surprised to find herself enjoying the company of the Aussie heir.  


* * *

Paris came out of her bedroom in her Yale sweats, handing back the jacket to Finn, who had his feet on the table while using Paris's laptop with her permission to check some cricket scores back home.

"Your team won?" He put down the computer and shrugged.

"They better get out of this funk or the fans'll lettem have it come Boxing Day. Hell, they need to get better." He looked at her and smiled. "Feel comfy and warm now?"

"A little. Wouldn't usually take the walk home, but...thank you." She was still surprised to find a woman shouting at the building when they came home asking where their cheating boyfriend was and without Finn there, knew that a weapon was on her person ready to be brandished. "You really don't need to be back at the apartment?"

"Not really, if you don't mind me taking the couch for the night."

"Go ahead. I don't expect Rory back tonight." A sigh as she flopped down, and at that moment her stomach chose to grumble. "Although it may have helped. Crud, I forgot to eat."

"You didn't order anything?"

"I couldn't, I only have forty on me to cover me until Friday."

"Friday? I thought you had the position at the library and that pays on the 15th and 1st."

Paris didn't want to tell him anything. "Uhh, I do some tutoring work."

Finn shook his head, not believing her. "You want me to order out something, I don't mind."

"No, I couldn't--"

"Barbie, you're looking a little thin, and I don't mean that in a good way. Working hard shouldn't mean starving hard and you need energy." He took the phone from the table. "I have a craving for Korean-style fried chicken, nice and crisp, spicy. How about it?"

"Finn--"

"I'm not asking if you'll pay for it, I'm asking if you want it." He remembered the number from memory and dialed out. "No matter what I'm getting it delivered here."

"Oh, fine, but it better taste as good as you described it. My mouth is watering." Finn smiled back and made the order as Paris thought about how to confide in him.

_Should I, though? What if he blabs it out when he's drunk?_ She knew it was iffy to trust one of Logan's friends, but really compared to how many women Colin and Logan slept with, Finn was more talk than action when it came to his chase for redheads, whose scarcity she teased him about a few times.

_"That's why I go after them," he told her. "They're few and far between and a little bit more loving. I just haven't found the right one yet to latch on."_

__The memory made her feel wistful. _He doesn't sleep with an entire party of bridesmaids for one_. She settled down as she heard him order a good amount of food and sides, along with cold bottled drinks before getting off the phone.

"I can already taste that delicious chicken. You excited too?"

"Yeah." Both of them settled on the couch as Paris paged around the cable lineup until ending up on CNN as Larry King rambled about some murder case she didn't care about. "Thank you again. I will eventually--"

"You will do none of the sort. Spoll yourself once in awhile." He watched the screen for a moment before finding the question that plagued him. "So why are you getting money on Friday? I only thought you had the one job and the tutoring service is doing bupkus right now."

"No thanks to the Yale bill posting policy," she grumbled, wondering how to bring it up. "I...I really don't want to discuss it."

"As in, if I hear about it I'm an accessory to a crime, or you're embarrassed about it?" Finn grew serious as he could tell Paris's aversion easily. "You really don't have to."

"I really can't say anything about it." She moved her eyes over, meeting his gaze. "I could...but if you told anyone else, I don't know that I could handle it. Janet and Tanna know, but that's it."

"So this would have to be super secret 'not tell anyone even as my fingers are being put in a vice'-type work?" A nod. Finn thought for a moment, looking at the sullen blonde and knowing he had grown to enjoy her sardonic view on life over the years. If Rory, Logan and Colin were realists, he knew Paris and him saw the absurdities in both society and life, though she took things more seriously, while he loved joking about them.

"If you told me then, I would have to hold it back from all of everyone else."

Paris nodded. "You would."

"And if I didn't?" He tempted fate by asking the question, knowing a biting retort was coming.

Paris did not disappoint. "You know what happened to John Wayne Bobbitt, correct?"

The cringe that registered in Finn's eyes told her that there would be no joking around. "I shall do my best to keep my bits then." He opened up his hand. "Scout's Honor this goes no further."

"It better." _OK, prepare for laughter and mocking_ , she thought, girding herself. "Alright, you know the Workshop for the Creative Arts?"

Finn thought for a moment before remembering. "That one place in the old police station."

"Yes." She settled herself down. "So, I'm in a bit of a money crunch, and student loans? This close, forget it. Well, I found an ad a month back in the alt weekly and...now I spend my Thursday nights there."

"As a teacher?" Finn shrugged. "Nothing to be ashamed of."

"God, I wish." She looked around. "I...uh, actually submitted myself as something else."

"Tutor?"

"No. A model." She wondered if she was about to be laughed at. "On a whim and after reading the compensation they get I decided to go for it. I got selected, and for the next few Thursdays, I'm getting paid for it."

Finn took in Paris's confession and as he listened, he could feel both the hurt and the pride Paris took in how she had not wanted a hand out. He stayed silent for a moment, worrying Paris.

But then she was suddenly surprised as he smiled.

"I'm glad one of us got picked then. Doesn't make me feel bad anymore." A laugh. "Definitely could be a worse secret."

"Huh?" Paris was surprised by the use of 'us'. "What do you mean, us?"

"You have Ms. Sandberg, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Damned particular lass. Tried to submit this work of art..." He presented himself as a sculpture. "...to her last year for some party money but she said my pecs and manhood were a 'distraction', and instead she chose some beefy looking foreman guy."

"Claude! He's my male partner behind the glass. He's actually pretty cool, though of course, not his real name because of anonymity."

"And stood longer than me. That's probably why I didn't get it, I shifted around too much." Finn was relieved. "Trust me, Par, I haven't told anyone of my tryout at the workshop, but I must offer my congrats for getting in there. Ms. S must've seen something great in you...and you are great." He wagged his eyebrows, earning an eyeroll from the blonde.

"Shut up, you perv." She lightly punched his arm, but smiled. "So she actually rejected you for your genitals?"

"She called me Long John Silver before dismissing me!" Finn said. "I mean I know I fill the boxers well but geeze!"

"I really don't need to think about your cock, Finn. But thank you anyways." She felt a little relieved. "So...telling nobody?"

Finn nodded. "You're being paid for what now? I think the Jack just hit my brain." He took her hand lightly. "Seriously though, bird, nobody will know. Your body, your choice, your life and all that, and I intend to keep confidence for you. It must be hard to do that."

"I just don't want anyone to know," Paris shared. "Especially after tonight."

"I wouldn't blame you after that." He kept his hand wound in hers in friendly intimacy. "That's why I only make fun of your brain when I'm around; even though Marty was a bit of a dolt I never wanted to make fun of him for making less. And the way your parents left you with the doggie bag? It's unacceptable, and I'm glad you found a good, though odd way to get through the rest of your undergrad degree."

"So you won't tell."

Finn shook his head. "They won't know. I only ask one thing of you though?"

"I knew there was a catch." Paris slid her fingers out, awaiting whatever comically impossible demand Finn had. He thought for a moment before coming back with his thought return.

"Not really a catch. More of just a question." A smile. "Be a reference for me if I need some in my work after I graduate?"

"Wait, that's it? A reference?"

"Come on, I'm only getting a New Orleans bartend job if I ask Logan or Colin for a ref. A Paris Gellar reference would be like an AMEX platinum or whatever rare metal they're using for their fanciest card today. I would treasure it, and I promise, I won't disappoint you. Or ask for your ovaries."

"Thank God, still need those things." She extended out her hand. "Fine, you don't blab about my modeling, you go places, be it with your father or in the working world."

Finn grasped it and almost felt a hard grip in his hand. "I think we have a deal, Blondie." The shake was hard and firm. "And I think I need to see the hand doctor in the morning."

"I went light on you, Morgan. Trust me, I could be rougher." With a laugh, the two caught up until eventually Janet decided to call just as the chicken delivery came. Paris picked up the phone and heard worry in her friend's voice.

"You sure you're OK, Gellar? One of my friends was down there waitressing tonight and that they said some pretty mean shit about you and that you walked out."

"I'm calm now, I promise. Finn got me home and he's getting chicken from the deliveryman right now." She whispered into the phone. "I did tell him but he knows if he says a word I will castrate him."

"Par, it's not Finn I'm worried about." Janet took a breath. "Rory's homophobia really bothered me. I know how you felt about the kiss and it must've hurt to hear her talk about it that way. I am pissed."

"Janet..." She clutched the phone lightly. "I know it's a silly thing that's never going to happen. I had hope before, but it was all shot the moment she decided to sleep with Dean. And then her transient act between here and Logan's apartment...I feel like this 'journey' thing Terrance talked to me about is bull now. The only journey I've been down is down the tubes." She sniffed back, snorting back a sob.

"God, don't talk about yourself this way. Please, don't." Paris was surprised by the empathy the girl she battled with freshman year was much deeper than Rory had expressed since the C-SPAN incident. "Paris, you were in love with her. I know it, but then you fell for Asher more and you thought once he passed, Rory would have empathy. But she still thinks of it as some big joke. You wondered why I couldn't must up more than a basic 'old people' joke when you were dating him?"

"Because Dylan--"

"Damn it, stop mentioning that lug of a man!"

"J, you asked for it dating him. Tanna was right, he had scary genitals."

"Maybe...I did. Maybe I was a stupid college freshman. But you weren't, Par. You knew what you wanted. You handled his stuff after his death, you would have been The One for him. I knew that, T knew that...but Rory turned it into this yuk-yuk fest I found offensive. Especially when your wake for him turned into just another party and she let it happen. Frankly, you did have love for her. You told me once you did, that's why you went to Yale."

Janet measured her words carefully. "But you and Rory, I know it would have worked. It should have worked. Ever since that dumbass came into her life though, she hasn't given a damn about you. She's your friend, sure, but she'll joke behind your back at the Pub about you. Hell, I know when I've seen her mom on campus she speaks highly of you, no 'Paris is annoying'."

"If I end it with her though..." She began to cry. "She's the only friend I've had since Chilton. The one who was there for me. I know Rory's still there somewhere buried inside, but I just don't know where to find her anymore. Lor doesn't even know either."

Her heart hurt as she voiced out her worst fear. "One day I'm gonna come home and I know I'm going to find Rory's stuff cleared out...along with a note...'off to London, nice knowing you'."

Janet winced, knowing it was probably true. "P, you ever need me or T, call us. I don't care if it's two in the morning and you need to run the waterfront. After tonight I'm really worried for you. You can't keep taking all of this over and over again."

Despite the heartfelt offer Paris hesitated, laying her hand against the edge of the coffee table. "I just am tired of all this. I want June to come so I can move on with my life, whatever I might do. I still don't even know what I'm doing, med or law."

"You can figure it out. But in the meantime? Stop letting Rory get to you. Her life will not be yours, and even if Terrance's journey with Rory never happened, you've taken the high road."

"I guess you're right." A sigh. "Thank you, Janet. Yeah, you have a nice evening too and say hello to Kevin for me. Goodnight. Goodbye." Paris hung up the call to find Finn staring at her holding aromatic Korean fried chicken. She looked up.

"How much did you hear?" she asked. The foreign boy nodded and clenched his jaw.

"Enough to know my best bud is ruining your life." He put the bag on the table, which was filled with plates to put everything on, and flopped on the sofa, feeling deep concern for a girl he found unique, and unforgettable. "You're a good bird, Gellar, and whatever my mate is doing to drive Rory to London, I've hated it, I admit. Colin and Steph might find it just 'young love', but while I can maintain my GP even in my state, Logan has no work ethic. He just wants to party and..."

He looked down. "I really wanted Rory to dump him when the bridesmaid thing happened. It was a dunderheaded error I couldn't even see happening to me. But she took him back so many times, and it's dumb. It's really an idiotic thing. And then she harangues you back into your good graces, sweet talks you...it's a vicious circle and you've been hurting for it so long. I know I don't usually say this, but..."

Paris was frozen as the boy took her hand. "You deserve better, Barbie. By far...you've got the head on straight, the goals ready to check off and whatever field you're in isn't going to be the same when you're done. I wish I knew that fire Rory described you having at your old prep school, 'cause I haven't seen it lately. At least you're proving you're a beaut in that modeling class. Now you just have to be confident."

Nodding, the blonde felt her spirits lift from Finn's rousing speech. "Don't do it for me, but yourself. You came here to kick ass and take names. Do that. Don't let your crummy parents or friends be the ones to stop you. Seriously, you got those lovely lasses Janet and Tanna now, and you got me."

"I...I do?" Paris didn't know how to handle Finn being so nice and chivalrous.

"I'll leave my mobile for you. Whatever you need, you got it. After tonight I can't defend my friends for making fun of you. And I've been shit not doing so earlier."

"I've been hearing that a lot lately," Paris said, weary by that jine of conversation. "Can I ask you a question though?"

"Shoot one off at me." He raised his hand out and grinned.

"Now that we're headed into some kind of odd friendship realm, you're not going to come to class and do a comedic scene, are you? Asking for a new liver or something."

He felt delighted at the question and laughed. "Not unless you ask. Though I already used my one 'stop a class with a monologue' ticket on that one. The next, I'm suspended for a week."

"Then I'm relieved." She gave him a hopeful glance. "Thanks for what you did tonight, Finn. I don't usually get all like this, but I needed that."

"Anytime, mate." He looked at the food. "Now come on, we've got sixteen pieces, some bread and sides. Let's not have it go to waste."

Paris nodded and agreed. "It all looks so good." She grabbed a plate and began to scoop some rice and vegetables onto it before grabbing a few pieces as Finn did the same.

Four pieces in, she was moaning her approval through the light grease and intoxicating scent. "Spicy, garlic-filled and...this is something that's going on my regular takeout menu for sure."

"Told you," Finn proclaimed. "Never been able to enjoy it with the rest because of everyone else overruling me. It just soaks up the alcohol and it's crisp and wonderful."

"I certainly feel better than I did before." She spooned up some more of her mixed rice. "You know your food well, Mr. Morgan."

"See, I thought we could get along. Glad I could help you out tonight, Barbie." The man from down under continued to enjoy his food, the new knowledge he had of the blonde switching around his views that he held for so long.

_I should definitely hang out with her more often_ , he thought to himself, glad to have saved Paris from a night of sadness and turning it around. _At least she's got sense, not like Reporter Girl's lost it lately. Maybe I can give her modeling hints._

__The man looked at Paris, who noticed him staring out of the corner of her eye. Shaking her head, she knew what his mind was after.

"Hey, Aussie boy, just use your imagination. I stood still well next week, so I don't need any help."

"But you could be more seductive--"

Paris snorted. "I'm looking at myself in mirrored glass. Unless I'm really into touching myself, nobody's going to be seduced."

"Ahh, that's right, I love looking at myself in the mirror. I forgot you're a bit more--" She punched his forearm lightly. "Hey!"

"Always conceded, aren't you? You're lucky I like you." Paris winked at him, and Finn let out a hearty laugh.

"Same here." The cram session Paris planned never happened, but she had found herself another ally in the woodwork she had not had when she answered the Workshop ad. After making up a makeshift bed on the sofa for Finn, she headed to bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"OK, so Janet and Tanna are great friends, and so is Finn. The heck, God?" She put down the book she was reading and slid on her sleep mask, turning off the light. "Next thing you know I'm going to take Lorelai as a lover or something."

She scoffed at the surprising thought. "Let's not go too crazy though." She fell asleep quickly, though wondering if Rory would regret her teasing in the cold light of day.  


* * *

Lorelai knew she was putting her vanity above normalcy, that she was troubled by how she wanted to come off. Since she had gotten up early Thursday morning, her outfit was planned for a flawless work-to-coffee outing-to-class transition. Pairing a grey knee-length skirt with red peep-toe Candies and a dark blue sleeveless blouse that brought out her eyes paired with the matching jacket for the skirt, her thoughts were fully on seeing Caleb.

Or so she thought. Taking a break in the office she soon realized that she had to button up her blouse as it was too 'come and get it' for Caleb. Though another thought came to her...

_Wait...this is something...no, she's behind glass. She wouldn't be able to care even if she wanted to._

__Soon she remembered that somehow when she dressed for Paris, that her cleavage had come into play.

She knew it was an unconscious and silly thought; that the blonde didn't care. But somehow even with nearly four years apart from the selling of Grad Night tickets and the small woman's odd want for her to unbutton her top and show off the girls, that she had done it most times since around Paris.

_And I know I have_ , she scolded herself. The first lunch with Paris after Rory's dumping of Yale had her neutrally dressed, but since then over the months, unconsciously she chose a top or a dress which brought her out front and center.

Only when she looked in the mirror in the office afternoon, did she realize her lingerie choice was for more than Caleb's benefit.

"Damn it." She quickly brought up a couple buttons. "I'm not seeing Paris there. I'm seeing Athena. Just another student having fun and paying the bills. Not her." Frustrated she tried to think of something else, anything else.

But she kept checking her sketchbook, three drawings she had done over the week fully completed after Lorelai took some eye and shading tutorials off Ms. Sandberg's website. She still had the de-hoodified picture she had worked on in bed after class, along with one she had made completely off the cuff involving the girl at the breakfast table dealing with her hangover after 'the punch incident', then one more with the girl standing tall in class. Looking for her own flaws, Lorelai wondered if she should submit one of the other two instead of the first sketch.

"Guh, stop it," she scolded herself. "You have Caleb. You've been finding him funny all week in your text chattering. He's a sweetheart from the Windy City. Reminder to yourself; Paris thinks you have low intelligence and are way into fashion and kitsch. Remember the time she insulted the _Mork & Mindy _t-shirt I bought from a thrift store?"

Hoping voicing it out would cool things down she hoped to think more about Caleb and her coffee date.

Her mind instead chose to remind her of the circumstances which lead to Paris's insult, when she came over to put things in storage in the attic for the summer while she lived with Louise to keep a roof over her head. The day had been spent using a U-Haul Paris had rented to bring everything over. Around the time of the sixth unloading, the blonde questioned the adult's choice in dress.

_"What is Mork & Mindy?" she wondered. Lorelai thought she was going to explode right there._

_"You...don't know what that show is? Guy from an egg, Robin Williams's career-sparking role? 'Nanoo-Nanoo'? Uhh...Pam Dawber being my pre-adolescent style icon? Rainbow suspenders?"_

_Paris shook her head, her mind a complete blank. "I've never heard of it." Her eyebrows rose. "Anyways, that shirt is distracting."_

_"Oh..." Lorelai wondered why. "It looks pretty--"_

_"No, it..." Paris struggled to state why. "I can see your stomach. You're nearly forty and you're carrying an abdomen a fitness model would kill for."_

_"Well, thanks."_

_"It isn't a compliment, not in that shirt." Paris continued to tut-tut Lorelai's clothing choice. "Also, a lacy bra? A woman your age should be wearing a sports bra while she is active." She found Paris focusing on the exposed crème strap of her bra. "This is not work to wear something that's not work-appropriate."_

_"Uhh...laundry day?" Lorelai returned sheepishly._

_"Then we'll do your laundry with mine after we're done," she returned sardonically. "You're wearing an undersized shirt with an inadequate bra, Ms. Gilmore." Paris put down the nightstand she was carrying. "Look, I know this mess with Luke isn't fun. That you feel like you're in a mid-life crisis." The two moved towards the porch swing as the discussion veered away from the original clothing argument. "You're an amazing woman, Lorelai. But that doesn't mean you have to remind yourself of how hot your are to guys by choosing clothes that get unwanted attention."_

_"Umm..." Lorelai hadn't even thought of it that way. "I'm not trying to date. Or be out there."_

_"I know, but internally you still have the wiring of a sixteen year-old with an arrested development." She took in a breath and explained her theory. "I know you want to come off as mature and above everything after the breakup. And you were; Luke should've done better."_

_Suddenly Lorelai felt her hand taken by Paris. "I'm just going to say this though; even though this hideous shirt makes you look like a ZZ Top video reject, you definitely have grace about you. But it doesn't have to come from raw sexuality, but just being who you are; a kindly innkeeper who knows how to take my time period advice for her dinners." Paris looked down with a blush across her cheeks. "And I really thank you for letting me store my stuff here for the summer. I have two months in a house with code-approved wiring at Louise's, and I'm taking advantage of it."_

_"Hey, one day? You're gonna get that wealth back five times over," Lorelai promised. "And because you're putting in your dues, it's going to be so worth it in the end. I assure you, Par, your living arrangements are crappy now, but they'll get better." She opened up her arms. "Now come on, Dame Hugs-a-Little."_

_"Thank you." Unlike the past hugs where Paris felt herself uneasy about affection, this time she was glad to hug the innkeeper she was now finding her role model more than anyone else in the world. She settled herself against the taller woman, and Lorelai didn't know at that moment what caught her about the hug being different than most._

_Maybe it was Paris's traditional neutral vanilla scent mixed with the sterile alcohol of her anti-perspirant. Or how her breath was soft and settled. Maybe it was the fact that the exposed flesh of her stomach was against that of the student's._

_Whatever the case, Lorelai didn't take the 'insult' Paris issued against her Mork & Mindy shirt and bra so hard._

_She knew it when she caught Paris staring as she stacked the girl's books in a tote later on, which exposed the bottom of her bra and showed off her slender spine._

_When Paris knew she had seen her glance, she went from lovesick to suddenly firm and...herself._

_"I'm getting you a better and longer shirt after this," she grumped as she turned around, even as her cheeks flared up with embarrassment._

__"Hey, Lorelai. Earth to my best friend. Hello? Hello?"

When Sookie touched her shoulder, Lorelai popped up suddenly.

"OH JESUS!" She turned around quickly to find her friend jarred out of her daydream. "Don't do that!"

"Uhhh..." Sookie shook her head. "I've tried to knock at your door for two minutes. Kelly from G&K is here to drop off the uniforms and floor mats, she needs your signature."

"Ohhh...oh yeah." Lorelai forgot her Thursday routine for a moment. "I'll head out and give it. Sorry...lost...in though. Heh-heh."

"More like lost in Caleb's eyes," Sookie teased, grinning. "Still have a couple more hours."

"Caleb?" Lorelai forgot for a moment, still thinking about Paris. "Oh...oh yeah, date. Coffee date. Before class. Right, yup, I'll all distracted, haha!" She quickly headed out of her office as her chef followed behind, shaking her head.

"This class is going to turn out to be a workplace hazard," she grumbled under breath, hoping that Lorelai's date went well so that the daydreams would no longer distract her friend.

As she signed the printout for the uniform/mat order, Lorelai tried to empty her mind of anything Paris.

_Come on, cute guy, hot coffee, that's right in your wheelhouse,_ she warned herself. _Athena is just another woman doing her work._

__Lorelai wished her could believe her own thoughts, but didn't know if she could.  


* * *

After parking her car in a good parking garage, Lorelai got to Dormand's on the Green by 5:59, just in time. She had just got in line, glad to get in before Caleb did. She looked to the front of the line to see the older gent she liked the most to make her coffee, Alphonse ready to serve up 16 ounces of goodness for her.

She wished it was that easy to find another good cup of coffee in Stars Hollow since the breakup. It was still acrimonious and her and Luke had barely been able to look at each other since it happened. Weston's had proven to be a bust with all the gossipers there, and inexperienced employees having no idea how to work a coffeemaker. Even post-Thanksgiving she continued to experiment, and had found a small doughnut shop off Waterford Road which was close to Luke's, down to the beans from his usual supplier.

It just wasn't perfect though. _Soon I am going to have to breakdown and get a coffeemaker_ , she surmised, though she knew buying bulk beans from a restaurant supplier for home use would be a little absurd.

She was cued up and approached Alphonse with her order, the kind Sicilian greeting her like he knew her for years. "Lorelai, the one with the poetic name. You're early...and the younger one isn't here."

"I know," she said. "I'm taking a class at the workshop, and seeing a classmate beforehand."

"Ahh, wonderful. Getting a social life, I see. What do you need?"

"Black with two shots, medium, and...ooh, what is that that luscious thing under that glass?" She nearly drooled staring at a fluffy cream cheese and raspberry Danish under the serving tray. "I think I want that."

"Then you shall have it." He pointed at a younger employee to plate it for her as he poured her coffee in a cardboard cup. "What kind of class?"

"Introductory figure drawing, or as I like to think of it, 'lots of nude drawing'." She grinned.

"Well, don't let anyone distract 'ya," he came back. "And there you go, poetic." She handed over her debit card and slid out a five for the tip jar.

"Sure you can't open a Stars Hollow branch?" Lorelai asked. "All of you here are awesome."

"I'd have to talk to Mr. Dormand, but you know him...elusive. I'll see Howie Schultz before I see him." The small coffee chain was known for having an absentee owner who ran his mini-empire from Utah. "Hope you have a good night."

"Oh, I think I will." Just then the door chimed and Lorelai turned to see Caleb in a grey suit and brown tie which seemed to have striping with the same orange color as the Bears. "Ooh, my partner's here," she whispered to Alphonse. "Treat him well."

"Got you, poetic." He winked as Caleb approached her.

"Well, aren't you tall today," he teased. "And bright. Wow, how high do you go in your shoes?"

"I can go five in my sleep," Lorelai boasted. "These are three inch heels." She puckered her lips and took in Caleb's suit and tie. "Really? Bears orange in New Haven? You're lucky Alphonse is a Eagles fan."

"I thought you didn't know sports," Caleb said, wondering how she got the subtle color reference to his favorite team.

"I know enough to know you don't wear Miami teal, Jets green or a Cowboys star in New Haven; we're in Pats and GIants territory, buddy." He approached Alphonse and put in his order, Lorelai running her fingers lazily through her curls as she was excited to kick off the date well. _Hello Lorelai, enjoy the show_ , she told herself internally before they sat down in a booth by the window.

Lorelai took a deep sip of her hot cup of coffee and savored it for a minute, smiling in contentment and letting out what Caleb thought was a moan resembling an orgasm.

"I guess you were right about loving a good cup of coffee." He shook his head, laughing as Lorelai opened her eyes. "I'm sorry I ever said the S-word."

"Trust me, you find a good cup of coffee, and you shall seek it no matter how far you go. And this is by far the best in fair New Haven." She placed down her cup. "So the texting you did the last few days, are you sure you're not a teenage girl? You just carry a thread there for a long time."

"Helps to have an interesting woman to chat to. I didn't know when I gave you my number I was going to get a blog about 'the life of an innkeeper'. Especially yesterday with the toilet flood in 248."

Lorelai scoffed. "Really? We're in a coffee shop and you're going to lead off with the flood?" She smiled and slapped her hand on the table. "Not my fault that little Pauly was dared by his sister to flush an entire roll down. For the record, I now know that's impossible, thankfully."

"But the question was is it a double or a triple-ply roll?"

A groan. "I don't even want to know the mess with a triple roll. Geeze, it's like these guests take it as a challenge to find out how to screw with us as the owners."

"Oh, you want to hear a story? We set up this company with the best product we could offer at the time. Centrex, T1 and the works, fast internet. Five months later they haven't paid us a dime and given the account department a sob story. A month later? Their office is cleared and I find out in the news that they were the biggest boiler room operation in Illinois that year." Caleb shook his head. "Wounded my pride for a year or two that I made this big sale and they ran away with millions off my pitch."

"See, don't have to struggle with that in the hotel business. The worst that happens is a towel gets ran off with or the card was stolen. But no matter what, we have ways of getting our money."

"Except when the details are faked. Or you're dealing with this generation's Dillinger."

"Yes, because a mass bank robber is going to consider my inn a perfect hideout from the cops. Mm-hmm." Her nose wrinkled as she got to the meat of the matter. "I'm not going to show you my work, but how did you do on the memory challenge?"

"I..." Caleb shrugged. "Well, I think I did fine. I just hope Ms. Sandberg isn't too tough on me. Thank goodness we don't have to draw in color because I forgot what color Athena's eyes were."

"Deep brown." Lorelai knew she couldn't forget. "I'm sure everything went well."

"Yeah, but it got busy at the office, and then I got tickets to a UConn men's game in Storrs. Is college basketball supposed to be that boring?"

"They won by a lot, didn't they?"

"Too many points. We were gone to beat traffic with ten minutes to go. But all to impress the client."

Lorelai nodded and the two had their coffee, enjoying their conversation together, though Lorelai was completely lost to much of the technology Caleb went on and on about. She looked at the bag she had bought earlier in the week to hold her drawing supplies, hoping Eleanor would be impressed by it.

She knew she could grow to love Caleb outside of class, but they definitely needed to see each other in a less professional manner. Eventually, the topic came up of their parents.

"Mine are in the northern suburbs," he said. "A newer suburb, Round Lake Beach. Been together for about thirty years. I also have a sister, Della. She works promotions for Delta in Salt Lake City."

"Della at Delta?"

"Trust me, she knows the name rhymes. But when the job pays north of $150,000 a year she doesn't mind being 'Della at Delta'."

"Well, I'm an only child, and my parents have been together for thirty-five years. Had some tough times with them. Even more now." She sighed. "I have to eat with them every Friday night as a debt for getting my daughter through private school, and since I broke up with my ex, it's been a struggle to keep it from turning into Hook-Up Theater every week with a new guy. I'm sure yours are just as tough."

He nodded in the affirmative. "33 and still single? Helps being an eligible bachelor, but with the parents, makes you seem like they should call up ABC and get me into Mike Fleiss's clutches."

"Trust me, not a reality show fan. I love my drama fake and rehearsed any day of the week. But I assume you have had relationships, have you?"

"About seven of them. But since I kept pushing at it at work, they usually broke up. I just came off the best shot I had with a woman named Susan who worked at a supply center in Wheaton. But then I got promoted to Connecticut and she ended it before I could." He grimaced at the recall of it. "I wasn't happy that she did it, but I knew the long distance relationship wouldn't really work out."

Lorelai nodded, not knowing how to comfort him. "It's never easy."

"Never is." He stared at Lorelai across the table. "Maybe being East is a good start for me again. At least the stress is a little lighter than it was back home."

"You can't know until you try." She felt good being able to be Caleb's soundboard. "If it helps, you've been an impressive guy so far."

He let off an easy smile and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, you say that now. I'm sure you won't feel that way after Ms. S. grades my work."

"We'll see," Lorelai said, and the rest of the time was spent talking more about their lives. Lorelai knew she could see this man as a possible future, though the dread of seeing Paris/Athena all over again made her feel unsure.  


* * *

Janet and Tanna exited the Workshop after getting Paris in hoping to bump into Lorelai, but they were about a few minutes earlier than expected.

It had been a rough week for the two girls and Paris since the Monday incident. The blonde had not seen Rory except for an awkward dining hall meeting on Tuesday afternoon, where the brunette had only given her a terse 'hello' before sitting with Colin, Olivia and Lucy at a table at the far end of the building. Not even an apology, Paris wondered if her outburst had been a bridge too far which finally ended their friendship in a way other incidents had not.

She had expected Finn to leave after his one night on the couch on Monday, but instead the man stayed with her both Tuesday and Wednesday as he felt unease about leaving her alone. She welcomed the company, especially as he insisted on ordering out and paying for it, which helped her immensely. She was surprised by the Australian's kindness to her and how many friends were now coming out of the woodwork.

Paris also felt a boost of confidence with Janet's help as the girl was able to finagle her privileges to get Paris her own pass for the gym she was at. Lunch at Wednesday had been spent with Janet and Kevin on the treadmill as she was able to get in a good 5k run before heading back to class. Despite the ebb of Monday night, Paris had been able to rise above it enough to come into the evening class in a cheerful mood.

Janet and Tanna were getting into the car just as Lorelai and Caleb crossed in front of them in the crosswalk.

"J!" Tanna pointed the two out to the runner, the red heels catching her eye right away. "Dang it!"

"What?" Janet looked at both of them. "Uh, I assume that's her classmate. Look at the distance they have between each other."

"But he's a guy, and he's going to be in the way!" The smaller prodigy felt wounded. "Crap, I haven't felt this low since I botched that experiment a month back."

Janet turned to her friend. "You're giving up now?"

"Who said I was giving up?" Tanna gave the man a firm stare as he opened up the door for Lorelai. "Paris needs Lorelai. She can't get her if he's with a guy. A nice-looking GQ'ed up guy, but--"

"You know we're not doing anything, right?" Tanna nodded. "Plus, Lorelai is a grown adult and can date whoever she wants. Wait until she gets out of class; maybe things will work out differently."

"I hope so." Tanna was deeply worried about the kink that developed. "Are you really sure Par and Finn can't couple up?"

The blonde smiled. "It's a miracle she's letting Finn stay at the apartment lately. There's no romance there. Not after the freak-out she told me about this morning over toenails in the bathtub."

"You can never take the 'bro' out of the 'brother'," Tanna surmised. "I'm really curious about this though."

"We all are. I know Paris is going up to the Hollow on Sunday for a lunch. We'll know more then." Janet started the engine, with both girls hoping either woman would open up more to each other as winter and the Christmas season moved ever closer.  


* * *

"Mr. Brandt...acceptable work. Your interpretation of Athena in a _Buffy_ poster stance is appreciative, but it could have been more original." Ms. Sandberg held up his drawing as an example. "Also, I really prefer my models to be shown as pacifists rather than aggressive. But otherwise, you are improving."

Caleb felt relief, glad that he wasn't taken down too badly as Eleanor went through everyone's homework. The first twenty minutes of the class were spent on going through it, with most of the submissions seeming to not meet Ms. Sandberg's standards.

Lorelai grew nervous as her work had not been graded yet. She turned to Caleb.

"I knew I should have turned in my other work. I went with the one I sketched on Thursday of P--Athena looking out a window before bed; I didn't know if that was too soon."

"She's particular. I didn't even know I was drawing a _Buffy_ pose. Or adding a stake."

"Just came naturally?"

"What can I say? I had a bit of time where Channel 9 was the only thing that came in on my TV. I developed a dangerous _One Tree Hill_ habit."

Lorelai snorted. "One of the kids in that show looked like a classmate my daughter had once. I just don't see it frankly."

"I think I went out with a woman because she resembled Hilarie Burton once. She certainly didn't have that girl's intelligence or pop culture knowledge though."

"If it was up to me, I would've been married to Ricky Schroeder for 20 years already. Thank goodness I was early on my crushes; Kirk Cameron is a loonball."

The couple continued to talk until Eleanor's voice rang out sharply.

"Ms. Gilmore?" Her head popped up quickly.

"Yes, Ms. Sandberg?" _Oh, here it goes. It's gonna be dreadful..._

__She held up the sketch. "I have to say..." A pause. Lorelai wondered if the next words to be said were to be a dismissal from the class for terrible drawing.

A rare smile appeared on Eleanor's face.  
   
"You have clearly rendered Athena in the way I expected to." She pointed out the sketch. "You only had a neutral look to deal with last week, but the way you drew her in this way, I'm definitely impressed. You've worked out your eye issues very well, and I think this is the best memory retention I've seen in a few years in any of my classes."

A nod. "Uhh, that's...great." She looked over her sketch. "Uhh, what about the shading?"

"I would have to know the interpretation of where you pictured Athena in doing this sketch."

"Well...next to a window with spare lighting, at night. I saw as contemplating herself before going to bed after getting home from a long night."

"I see." Eleanor let off a small glance towards Lorelai's direction. "Whatever the case, the shading is fine. However, the next work I will be laying out for all of you won't be as simple as this challenge I had for you, or last week's sketch." She moved towards the desk and an easel she had set up in front of the window.

"I think this class for most of you is going well. But you might be a little cocky right now, thinking, 'yeah, I can do this. It's handled'. Well...you think that now, but tonight you will be challenged."

She pulled out the blank piece of paper in front of the easel. "Tonight's class will deal with multiple poses, about fifteen minutes per pose, which means we will have seven drawings for the evening. For this class, we are going to focus on how muscular definition plays into the perfect drawing. Instead of the basics of shape and form, you will be instructed on how to add more definition and features to the sketch you are drawing."

Lorelai wondered what positions she would have to draw out and made sure all of her materials were ready. "The curtain will open, but there will be no introduction. Your model will immediately be ready in their first pose. For this class and others from here on, you may feel free to take any time you need to wander along the window and get your proportions before putting pencil to paper. This is a challenge because we are not in an open in the round setting, but I think most of you can make it work."

_Won't need it_ , Lorelai thought, thinking she had memorized as much of Paris as possible. Eleanor called for the curtain to be opened and the drapery slid open quickly, to reveal the three models in the requested pose.

"For this first, I want you to concentrate on the back of the shoulder blades and sternum. Take in the definition of this part of the body and transfer it to paper." She pointed to Claude, who had a tattoo rendered with what looked like the Detroit Red Wings logo on the left side of his back. "The tattoos must also be rendered as well as possible, though I'm not looking for perfection."

Lorelai was relieved; outside of the ink on her ankle, Paris never felt the need for any other tattoo besides that one, though the challenge remained on drawing her marks and scars. She was free to approach the window and take the one she had to know as Athena in further without complications.

Her and Caleb approached the window, Lorelai feeling nervous as she took in the model sitting in a lift chair backwards, the bottom sill of the large window lined up with the small of her back to preserve her modesty.

Her mouth was dry as she was able to examine the model up close without any notice whatsoever. If Paris as Athena heard anything through the window, it was only a vague mumble once it cut through the two layers of glass outside, the reflective and protective layers, then the two layers inside of the room itself.

"I guess my gymnast theory is a little off," Caleb said. "Though it's odd, wasn't she a bit..."

"Yeah." Lorelai noticed the slight extra bit of tone, even more curious as Paris's skin tone seemed to glow again for the first time in at least a couple of years. "Someone may have gotten a secret psyche-up from week one to look good." She traced every slight muscle she could, unnoticed during the summer but becoming apparent.

Distracted, Lorelai tried to will certain thoughts out of her mind, the shock of getting as close to the girl as only three other men had in her life. Her hair was fully loose, mixed between her back and front to provide volume to both sides. Lorelai's skin tingled as she drew back, her memory content to have a good picture of the young woman as Ms. Sandberg called everyone back to their places after admonishing a couple of the students for both knocking at the glass and gaping at Dora, sending them to the farthest position in their portion of the class so they would not have a prime sketch.

Caleb turned his attention to Lorelai one last time. "You think you have this?"

"Question is, do you?" Lorelai asked right back. "Us ladies...we know the anatomy straight off."

"I think I can handle it," he responded, though a pause in his voice suggested he might not.

"Class!" Ms. Sandberg brought them to attention. "We shall now begin, pencils in hand. If you don't all need to pop some fucking Aleve and get a carpal tunnel sleeve at the night, I haven't done my job right." All thoughts of Paris were evaporated as Lorelai brought herself into Athena mode for the next near hour.

"We shall start with the shoulders," she intoned as Lorelai got in the outline of her sketch. "As you can see, their definition..."  


* * *

Lorelai had to admit as she finished off the last drawing of the night that she may have gotten ahead of her own drawing abilities. Going slow and making sure she had the definition she required for all the drawings turned out to be harder than she thought.

The marks and scars had gotten to her, become the hardest part about drawing Paris. Her form was fine, but getting in every small pock in her skin would be impossible. When she drew a front arm along with the underarm and her side, she was surprised that it wasn't all the way smooth, but with a little bit of skin that stuck out. She knew Paris didn't care about flesh that she had been mocked for having only a smidge by guests behind her back, but it was hard to get it perfect.

But when Eleanor commanded the class to draw their subject's neck, and only their neck, it seemed like it should have been a breeze.

Lorelai found it as hard a challenge as not wanting to flee if Taylor offered to model for her. There was creased skin to deal with, little bits of hair along the nape of her neck that were hard to replicate. Her mark proved to be the easiest part.

If Lorelai thought she knew Paris Gellar well enough to know all of her secrets, she was sorely mistaken.

"Now onto the back of the neck," Eleanor bellowed, calling on the intercom. "Models, please turn and place your hair up in the bands provided."

Claude, with his shaved head proved to be the easiest, but with their long manes, both Dora and Athena had to take their time. As they had rehearsed in class both women quickly up their hair in bands, Paris's hair knowledge proving to be amazing as Lorelai knew the girl had a wicked way with a headband or a pigtail. She still felt ashamed for making fun of the Topsy Tail when an ad for it came on television during a sleepover, when the blonde surprised her.

"Use it all the time," she admitted. "I have no shame in saying so. Best $14.95 plus processing I ever spent on a hair product. In fact, I used it before I came over this evening." She turned her head around to show Lorelai, who turned white.

"Oh damn," the older woman admitted. "Okay, consider me shocked that you buy infomercial products." She had caught Rory rolling her eyes, but since then knew Paris could do amazing things with her hair.

With her hair done all up, Paris turned, her back facing the class. Lorelai began to work out the basic details in her head before looking back up when Ms. Sandberg issued the command to continue.

Her blue eyes wandered up from the drawing desk...

...where her pupils landed on an unexpected sight.

Lorelai's breath caught in her throat as another aspect of the hidden life Paris shielded from everyone else came out of hiding.

_My God_. She knew her drawing had become just that more challenging.

Resting just at the top of the nape of her neck, the smallest of words appeared upon in, in what looked to be simple print. Hardly flowing or calligraphic, it seemed to be either in the girl's own tall script, or in a supposition based on the language used in the word, the woman who she loved the most, her nanny Francisca.

The one simple word stood out and Lorelai's skin prickled taking it in.

**_FORÇA_ **

**__**Lorelai had no knowledge of Portuguese in any way outside of some cities of the country, but going from lessons retained by her foreign language teachers in the past, she remembered that the root word often meant something else.

_It's either force...but that's unlikely. Probably actually 'strength'. That would make more sense, though it could always have a double meaning with several different things. Paris would be like that, putting so many things into one word._

__She was so distracted for a moment that when Ms. Sandberg got in front of her it was a surprise.

"Ms. Gilmore," she barked softly. "Is there a reason you're not drawing?" She held her hand to her chest.

"Oh geeze, sorry!" Lorelai put her pencil right to the paper. "Sorry, the...um, tattoo. It caught me by surprise."

"It did to me too," Eleanor easily admitted. "Didn't know she had it until the rehearsal earlier. But anyways, time is a wasting." A glare sent her way convinced Lorelai she couldn't linger any longer.

"Got it." Lorelai got right back to drawing, still stuck on the black ink that had taken her out of her element. She wanted to be able to distill Athena out of Paris and be able to draw that figure instead, but knew it wouldn't be possible.

The distraction proved to be a challenge, along with Caleb's usual asides.

"You think she's happy?" he wondered in a whisper as she finished up on the bottom of her drawing. "She looks like she holds in some things."

"I wouldn't presume to know. She just seems focused."

"But you think she does?"

"Not sure. I hold in some things myself," Lorelai admitted. "Doesn't mean I need to reveal it all." She hoped to replicate the text as best she could, but knew as a rightie it was likely impossible to get it just so, especially the right slant of the left-handed script. Even though it was one of the beginner units, she still strived for need to perfect everything about her drawing.

A few more minutes were spent getting it right until Eleanor called time and she dropped her pencil, the last stroke finessing the strayest of hairs along the column of Paris's elegant neck.

"Alright, class." A smile from Eleanor as she collected the drawings from the night. "I have your email addresses, so I shall grade your drawings and give you feedback privately through that channel over the weekend, as this is a more complicated unit for me to look at than normal." She looked towards the window and called for the curtains to be drawn.

As the curtain was about to go over, Lorelai glanced up for her last look at Paris, just in time to catch her in what seemed to be a direct glance at her direction. Full brown eyes seemed to regard her through the glass with warmth and respect. Her heart rate rose for a moment at the glance as the drapery then blocked over Paris, leaving Lorelai stunned.

_I...I need to stop this. Just...stop. Again, just a student. Half my age. Probably not in the best mood at all._

__The last ten minutes while the models left were to go over next week's homework, for the students to draw their models with two profiles so their face work could easily be judged. Lorelai listened quietly, her mind still humming around Paris's second tattoo, along with the piercing she found out about the week before.

_She has had a quiet rebellion over the last year. One Rory doesn't know about. Nobody probably knows about it. There is something there with her that I'm just starting to find out through these classes. But I know I can't approach her..._

__Caleb tapped her shoulder.

"Lorelai, you've been quiet for the last five minutes. You nervous about heading out?" She turned quickly.

"Heading out?" Lorelai didn't know what he was saying.

"If I remember you parked in the middle of the third level at the Temple Garage. Good walk from Dormand's, not so much from here a few blocks away."

"Oh...yeah." A laugh. "Where are you parked?"

"Fourth level, so I guess I'm coming with you?" He smiled back at her, placing his book in a folder to put in his drawing satchel.

"Lead the way." Lorelai felt easy about going with him, and the two left the building, headed the few blocks back to the garage just near the edge of downtown, catching up a little more on their lives as Lorelai discussed her life with Rory. He listened intently; curious as to how a woman of near his same age had raised a child to just about her college graduation.

"Trial and error. Although _Parents_ magazine was a great resource when I needed it to be, I pretty much had to wing it. I hope I did right when I eventually pass on, but I got her to 21."

"Scot free?"

"Well, not quite." She cringed having to admit she wasn't golden. "We had a couple years of acrimony. She stole a yacht as an act out and got community service from it. Frankly I disagree with how she's been doing some things lately, but she's an adult. She has to screw up sometimes, and I can't go in and fight her battles any longer."

"You seem like a good parent. Kind of cool too," Caleb said. "You seem to be sane."

"Mmm, definitely, though my parents would suggest otherwise."

Eventually they ended up in the elevator of the garage, nearly close to each other as Lorelai had a good minute to consider how she was with Caleb in the slow elevator.

She knew it was still too soon to make anything but a friendly move, but his clean-shaven face was a contrast from Luke's scruff. He was bright and open, a complete difference from him, and he seemed to allow her the tangents she loved to go on.

He then moved a glance towards her, and she stared at him, eyes trained on his lips, while her eyes kept him drawn in.

There seemed to be an unexpected moment between them. Lorelai's mouth dried as her thoughts wandered to actually taking that next step, even if she shouldn't. They were moving in a bit closer, the floor for two dinging as Lorelai adjusted her heel in place.

A thought crossed her mind.

_I want to kiss this man._

__She was bound to hold to it. Experiment. Feel free and bold in her post-engagement life. She perched on her toes just enough that Caleb didn't notice, moving closer...

A scent memory of sterile alcohol suddenly hit her mind in that moment.

Then even more unexpected...

_Don't forget, you have Paris coming over on Sunday._

__Her eyes widened as she remembered the last time she talked to Paris, two weeks before for a lunch. Only this time, at her home.

Instead of romance, she felt panic.

Then, realization of where she was.

"I..." She stopped, pulling back. "I...this is too soon," she said nervously, brushing her fingers along her skirt. "We had a coffee thing."

He nodded. "We did." But he was also chivalrous. "But you also just broke up with a guy before getting married."

"Right." A wavering laugh. "I mean...it was months ago, but this is a little fast. Two weeks." The floor indicator dinged. "We need to know more."

"Much more. We just got off our long-term ones. Don't jump right in."

"Yeah, I agree." She blushed. "I--"

"I'm sorry," he completed with Lorelai at the same time. "It wouldn't even work. I'm still waiting for my permanent furniture to get delivered. I have a rented couch for God's sake."

"TV?"

"I have a TV hooked up to a hangar. Comcast is taking forever with their conne--"

Lorelai opened her mouth wide. "Hold on! The AT&T guy is using..." she faked a shocked shriek, a hand to her chest. "Cable internet? And you haven't been demoted to the northern New Mexico missile sands division?!"

"They don't look at my bills. Seriously, I had to keep with Comcast; I have an email address dating back years with them before I got hired by Ma Bell, when they were MediaOne. You don't give that up."

"A worthy reason to be a traitor," she joked. "Um, anyways...yeah. Too soon."

"Yeah. A few more weeks." Lorelai smiled as she was relieved it hadn't been awkward. "Let's plan another after work coffee outing next Thursday. If that goes well, maybe week four I can actually come to town?"

"Hmm, maybe." Lorelai let the words slowly creak out with a smirk. "OK, so more texting and talking and we meet at Dormand's again next week?"

Caleb nodded. "Absolutely, sounds like it worked well this week, should do the same next week." He walked her to the Jeep, opening the door for her and seeing her off.

"I will talk to you on Saturday then," she promised, before closing the door and waving goodbye to him as she pulled out of her space and towards the exit. She still didn't know how to feel about pursuing anything more with Caleb, but knew at the very least she could enjoy spending time with him.

However as she made her drive home, the reminder thought of Paris coming to the Hollow on Sunday plagued her like no other. She had honestly forgot in a blur and now had to make sure she would give off no signs she knew about her as Athena.

"Maybe I could call and cancel," she told herself, wondering if that was the right response to her quandary.

But she knew immediately that it would either involve panic on Paris's end.

"No...can't do that. I do want her there. She's great and it's a venting opportunity for her. No matter what's going on, I can't deny that."

But she knew that now her image of the young woman would be forever changed. Just reading those letters hidden on her neck, she knew despite how she felt now, Paris would eventually be strong again.

"I know I'm helping her out with that, even if she doesn't know it. But now until Sunday, she's off of my mind. I cannot think of her and..."

Then she remembered her assignment from the Workshop. "Well, most of the time." She shook off her thoughts, hoping a call with Sookie later on would provide her additional clarity.  


* * *

Paris wondered if her luck was changing.

The post-class drive back home with Janet and Tanna had instead turned into a surprise outing at Denny's, a girl's night out just outside of town as she found two girls giving her what had been her fourth consecutive night of a good meal.

"I don't get it." Paris snorted derisively at her Grand Slam of French toast, four eggs, hash browns and turkey bacon. "You want me to firm up, yet you allow me to order this?" She bit into a slice of the bacon. "What's your deal, Billings?"

"I know it's a little odd, but this is more about socialization than the food." The tall athlete felt light as her friend dug in, beginning to enjoy the girl's snark. "Besides, it's T we should be scared of."

"What?" The smaller girl gave them both a dirty look. "I'm a pancake addict."

"Seven pancakes should involve an 'anonymous' meeting," Paris said. "And don't take all the syrup, Schrick. I know you chug it like Pepsi."

Despite her mouth nearly full, Tanna continued to talk. "Syrup...was sinful back home. I love it. It's like, I'm in college, I'm pouring the syrup on!"

"I shudder to see you on an energy drink."

"Imagine no more," Janet said. "I left out a Monster once. What a stupid thing to do. It took her until midnight to finally settle down, from a chugged drink at ten in the morning!"

"Well you try not having caffeine since your life started. See how you'd react." Tanna and Paris both laughed while Janet let out a heavy grunt of annoyance. She pouted and went back to her food as she wondered how Paris was feeling towards the end of the week.

"So how's Finn?" she asked. "He's over there again tonight."

"Yeah, I can't seem to get rid of him. But he's insistent on staying and who am I to throw him out? He did his part by getting me dinner the last three nights." She cut into toast, dipping it into a pool of syrup and making sure it soaked it all up. "Colin didn't even apologize to him about his aside about me, so something happened."

"You really don't see getting together with him? Honestly?"

Paris shook her head furiously. "We talked last night and he did admit to sex dreams of me, but he said he'd never go beyond that. I truly believe him. He even obeys my 'clothes on in the living room at all times' rule; Logan is a constant violator."

"Par...are you not telling us something?" Tanna said. "If not for my guy I'd be happy to try something with Finn."

"Well..." She looked around the room. "You remember the discussion about Rory's reaction to my kiss when she talked about it?" Both women nodded as Paris prepared herself for what she was about to say, something Doyle knew, and to a smaller extent Asher had also.

"I...I am kind of in this area of sexuality where I can love a man. I did love both Asher and Doyle. But on the other hand..." She slid her arms onto the table, bringing herself closer.

"I have an attraction to women." It felt like lead coming from her throat. "I think after dating Tristan that one time, and then Jamie, I realized I had more feelings for Rory than I ever did either of them. That one day I would act on them. I can admit I was deluded though. Rory is heteronormative as can be, and her little dig at Spring Break confirmed that. I'm glad I didn't get my heart broken there."

"OK." Janet's voice was calm, and Paris knew there was hardly any reaction to her words. "But is there anyone else?"

"Of course there is. But...I'm not going to say because I'm not deluded enough to believe my own dreams."

"What are your dreams of?"

Paris scoffed, rolling her eyes. "We're in Denny's. I doubt anyone wants to hear me talk about sex in here."

In response, Tanna held up her fork between bites. "A quarter of the people here are either intoxicated or experiencing either what is known as the munchies or feeling high off smoking something. They won't even remember much in the morning."

"But I can't tell you two."

"Why not?"

"Because..." She sighed. "Because I'd like to hold some secrets. And the dreams I have of this person, they're very important to me. They help me out, even though I don't believe they'll happen in reality." She was pensive, looking at her orange juice and spinning around the glass. "I tell you and somehow I get false hope. It makes it real when I'd rather keep what I have to myself."

"But you're at least confirming it's of a female, right?" Janet looked to her friend for the information she craved.

"Yes...at least that." Paris remained firm in her belief saying something would earn her more scrutiny than she wanted. "It is not Rory. But--"

"Paris." Tanna decided to be firm with her. "If you feel an inclination towards women and think it bothers us? Honestly, it doesn't. You were my first crush--"

"I know." She closed her eyes. "You do know I'd be introducing myself to the neighborhood and 500 feet away from day cares and schools if I acted on that. Not that I felt that way." Tanna laughed and brushed off the quip.

"But I never cared about your sexuality. Honestly, you have an open heart to me. You loved an average guy, an old guy, and a total oddball, and found love in all of them. Your thing with Rory you knew wouldn't happen, but you still think of it as an important guidepoint in your life." She looked for more details as she knew Paris was in a sharing mood. "What about those girls who come over occasionally from your high school, Madeline and Louise?"

"They're friends," Paris insisted, though uneasily. "Though yes, Louise and I had our adventures together in bed."

"Adventures?" Janet was deeply interested. "As in?"

"As in, if I'm talking in reality, we were each other's first, before boys came in the picture, and I haven't really forgotten." She held back further with a secretive smirk. "However, a lady does not kiss or tell, so that's all you ladies are getting."

Pleased, Tanna squealed unnaturally high at the revelation. "Oooh, that's the blonde one, right?"

The look Janet and Paris gave her at her excitement gave her the shivers.

"I...was just wondering." She rambled further without any prompting. "I just get those two mixed up, you know. There's the funny looking brunette and then her with her porcelain skin and pink lips and her seductive voice and..."

"You're sure her and Marcus had sex earlier, right?" Paris whispered, unnerved. Janet nodded.

"I swore they were. When they go at it, you don't want to be there. They go at it heavier than I ever did with Dylan, and Kevin couldn't keep up their pace."

Tanna didn't stop as she continued to describe Louise a little more until she noticed both women giving her a stunned stare.

"Should I be telling Lou you're going to jump her when she comes home around Christmas?" she wondered. "I'm a little worried."

"Oh...oh! No." The small girl seemed to go back to her freshman year for a little bit. "Just, your friend, she's stunning."

"She's also a casual dater." Paris came back to her food. "I think I've had enough sex talk for the night though."

"Me too," Janet agreed. "I just want to go home to Kevin and fall asleep before we work off all this in the morning."

"Don't remind me. I'm dreading the 6:00am wakeup, but I'll do it." Paris sighed as she went back to her food, leaving both Janet and Tanna wondering who Paris held a false hope of falling in love with.

_Hope it's a certain woman drawing her in that class_. Janet knew things were about to get interesting, and Paris's outing to Stars Hollow on Sunday was going to prove some things to her, she just knew it.  


* * *

When Paris came home just after 10:30 she found Finn still dependently on the couch, watching Fox 61 for their forecast.

"Hey bird, you think that weathergirl on this station would take well to dating me?" he wondered aloud, leering at the television. The blonde averted her want to throw a pillow at the Aussie.

"I think with her two kids and husband, probably not." She took a quick look at the screen, wondering how the weather would be for her drive up to the Hollow.

"Looking at a cool down on Sunday with a good chance of snow, low 30's with a shot at the upper 20's if all looks good," the meteorologist predicted. Paris shook off the snow prediction and headed for the kitchen for her bedtime glass of pure warm cocoa with soy milk. "Finn, if you're going to live here--"

"Already taken care of, Barbie. $150 next to the door, ready for the rent envelope." Paris quickly turned around, the mention of money taking her by surprise.

"Finn, I don't need money. This isn't a weekly tenement hotel, I've let you stay because I just couldn't bear you having to face Colin."

"I know, but you provided hospitality and a good couch. I must render payment for services provided." She went back into the kitchen, wondering how to tell him to keep the cash.

"No services were provided, I just--" A pause. "You know..."

She quickly wandered off at the sight before her, taking a minute to wonder if what had materialized was not a dream.

"Findlay Rothschild Morgan, get in here, now!" she barked. The man took no time to get into the kitchen, where he found the surprised student regarding him with a mix of both awe and some shock.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, to the response of Paris shaking her head.

"Don't you dare play dumb with me." She pointed her finger sharply. "I left here with a certain amount of things in the refrigerator. I come home and..." She opened the door of the fridge, then the freezer to reveal perishables, including several quarts of her beloved soy milk, filling an icebox that hours before only was residence to take-out leftovers and several notes from Rory on plastic tubs reading 'don't touch'. "Finn--"

"Love, J and T told me you needed good food and I decided to deliver--"

"But I can buy that myself," she said, trying to justify her need to go it alone. "You didn't have to buy it for me."

"I didn't, but I did. While you were gone I had a trip to the Shop Rite and the warehouse club to stock the shelves and everything for you. Took a bit off my pop's 'emergency' platinum MasterCard, but it was worth it." She explored further, finding her favorite cereals filling the cupboards and three Costco-packs of her beloved Kraft dinner, adding up to 30 boxes, along with various canned goods and baking supplies. "No beer, no alcohol. The bloody clerk almost sent out a code blue wondering why I didn't have a six pack or a bottle of whiskey on the belt. All for you."

Paris continued to shake her head, though the gesture was causing her to build up tears. "You got me 8th Continent. In both chocolate and vanilla. You know how much I love my soy milk. And..." She shrieked. "Are those two boxes of grape popsicles in the freezer?" She looked down. "Crystal Geyser water?"

"Three 24 packs, under your bed."

She wandered around the cramped cupboards, finding her favorite natural peanut butter and boil-in-bag rice she spiced up with other ingredients for her dinners. She saw several boxes of her favorite mints on the kitchen table.

"You...you cleared out the store here, you idiot."

"I was wondering why there wasn't a lot of food here. I found out that you usually do the food shopping but Rory just uses daddy's money to feed herself and us on takeout while you budget yourself worse than Sandra Lee. I felt pain in the pit of my stomach for not realizing that and this is me making it up to you."

She was welling with emotions. This was just a man she considered the oddball of the LDB showing how deeply he actually did care for her.

"This is something you really didn't have to do." Her voice raised as the tears threatened to fall. "Finn, I'm fine, the Workshop is helping with the tuition so I can use my other jobs to pay my bills, I'm at break-even."

"Barbie, my father told me one thing when I was younger; if you see a friend struggling, lend 'em a hand. Logan couldn't even be bothered off his arse to do that, and Colin? Forget it." The tall Australian gestured towards the blonde. "This isn't something I wanted to do, but I **had** to do. Rory gets to flee to the apartment when you're in anguish, but you have nowhere to go but her mum's or the gals at this point. I'm doing my hardest to see how I can get you out of this lease and to Janet's. There's gotta be a loophole. I just can't stand you wasting away on me though."

Paris looked up to see Finn being completely honest. She could see from the shaking of his hand that he had not touched any alcohol since the last drink on Monday. She didn't imagine Finn had any ulterior motives at all, nor could she see them occurring. He brushed her cheek and hoped to cheer her up.

"Come on, this is good. If I wanted to bribe you I'd pull you on some ridiculous trip home to Sydney or Melbourne after finals, but you've got your mates, and now you've got food to keep you until finals, the better to lean you out so the last weeks of the sketch class you're gonna leave a lot of people with sore parts."

Paris snorted derisively at the aside. "If anything I just need to eat a little better. But this will all help, all of it." She felt light on her feet. "I guess I won't look at this as bad; a little more for the tuition bucket, right?"

"Should help." He brought her into a hug, which she slid into. "Seriously though, take good care of yourself. If you need me out for the weekend I can be, but I was back over there after class still asking Reporter Girl for an explanation of what she did Monday night. Something about you overreacting, so I yelled at them and left."

Paris nodded. "Look, I mean I still only have the couch, but it'll do, right?"

"I sleep well on it. If there was a good thing about the evasion you still kept your furniture from it happening before. Smart move keeping some of your stuff in the storage." The hug broke and the girl felt in much better spirits. "You good, Barbie?"

Paris nodded. "Not all the way there, not by any means. But being fully stocked on groceries, having a gym pass and full of Denny's after class tonight? Helps a bunch."

"Speaking of which, I need some details." He seemed like he was chomping at the bit. "Tell me, how did it go?"

"You're getting the PG version, Morgan," she warned as she walked towards the couch, still in too much shock to make her cocoa.

"Oh, you can't go PG-13?"

"I went PG-13 once and it turned into a discussion of my breast size! Besides, it's not like I'm spending class leering at my fellow models!"

"Sod it, Gellar, you know you look at yourself and are like 'I'm a goddess'."

"I'm not that conceded." She scoffed and narrowed her eyes as she sat down. "I mean, yeah, I look good naked, but--"

"Ha, you admit it!" He pointed at her. "Come on, spill the beans."

"For the love of..." Eventually she did, going on and on as the two spent the next half-hour talking about their lives, completely ignoring the outside world and proving that men and women can make good friends after all.  


* * *

_Tell me this isn't going to be normal._

 __Lorelai stood in her bathroom at 2:42am in the morning, face damp from water splashed on her face after being jarred out from yet another dream after a night of trying to perfect her drawing.

On the way home she had made a stop at an office supply store to pick up the WACOM tablet, spending an hour after she got home setting it up on the sewing room computer before opening up the software program Ms. Sandberg had promised her.

She had scoffed at first, seeing the many tools in the program and thinking it would be harder to figure out than Excel, which she had still not mastered after fourteen years.

But then she played with the program and the corded pen. Applying light then hard pressure, playing with the various styles of pencils and pens within the program.

She thought not having a place to 'see' where the pen was as she drew would be a handicap, but within an hour she had indeed picked up the WACOM and became used to it quickly, just like when she used _Mario Paint_ on the Independence's rented out SNES in boredom a few times when a kid didn't request it for the room TV.

Lorelai spent two hours after class ignoring Sookie's calls, getting right into a test drawing of Paris with the wind in her hair, the mention by her daughter of how scared she was of Paris driving.

She had seen nothing unusual in Paris's driving habits. Sure, she was a little fast, but no more than most people, and she was stuck hard to the traffic laws she knew she had to obey. Somehow she could see her father and Paris touring America in a convertible rather easy...

Which is what she did, drawing a rough outline of the top of a car door and rolled down window to show Paris with the wind in her hair, looking out the window at some kind of vague scenery Lorelai imagined as some scene in Middle America. She played with the drawing until she felt tired, thankful for saving to the computer helping her keep at the drawing until it was just perfect. She then made a few random sketches on a new page to get the hang of her pen until her hand cramped from overuse and she had to settle it down.

It was after eleven before she talked to her friend, who was still up trying some dishes out for the holiday season. She had expected to be gushing in joy about the coffee date with Caleb and how wonderful she felt.

By the end of the conversation though, Sookie had come to another conclusion as she put a sheet of macaroons into the oven.

"You like Caleb, that's not in doubt."

"Of course, that's--"

"But then again you just spent twenty minutes of this half-hour conversation talking about drawing, and in turn, this Athena guise that is the model Paris has."

"Well, the class consists of drawing her. Of course that would be the focus of the conversation," she argued back. But Sookie saw it another way.

"Hon, you really sure you want to see Paris on Sunday?"

"Of course." Lorelai was surprised by the change of topic. "She needs a day to come to town, relax and vent."

"But you just told me about these things, how Paris has a bit more tone, has a good bone structure, and that you find her enchanting. But Caleb, someone you had coffee with, who you talked to tonight, you went on about him vaguely like the guy who fished."

"What guy?" She thought for a moment. "Ohh...that one, what's his name?"

"Yeah." Her partner knew in Lorelai's voice that something more met the eye. "I know she's alone, you're alone. But you can't be putting your eggs in one basket here and worrying so deeply about Paris. She's doing what she needs to do--"

"Something she shouldn't have had to do in the first place!" Lorelai suddenly let off steam she didn't know she had. "I can't help but worry about her. I've known her since she was a sophomore and was high and mighty, Emily's mini-me. Unlike Rory though, I don't revel in her fall. I would rather be sketching out some unknown person, but those are the circumstances we're under. I have to live with it."

"I know, but you should look forward to Caleb next week. It seems you're working out there."

Lorelai let out a slow and frustrated breath. "I...I do want it to work. But my worry senses are strong here. I know I need to let it go, but I have to see if it works out with her."

"I know. You just have this need where when you're out of a relationship, you have to have something to do. I hope this works well, but if Paris gets wind of it, you have to know the consequences."

"Sookie, trust me. She won't find out. I've only told you, and I have no plans to tell anyone else. Nobody else can know."

"If you really think you can handle this, you're a grown adult. I just hope you know what you're doing."

Internally, Lorelai had her own doubts. _Me too_ , she thought to herself.

Instead, she voiced out hope. "I do."

The conversation closed out with work related items, and by midnight, Lorelai was in bed, wondering how she ended up with all of this in her lap.

She wondered if disinviting Paris on Sunday would be something unforgivable, if the student would hate her for it.

But that was only for a moment. The lonely echoes of the house, the renovations done by Luke adding space that would go unutilized. Rory's room, recalling a time when the heirs of newspaper barons had no influence to her, only the books on the shelves that now lay fallow, done in by long chatting online. The television, formerly on most of the day, now cold in the living room with the TiVo filling up on shows on some new network Lorelai had no interest or care in watching, especially after one she watched on Tuesday nights imploded from bad writing and obnoxious advertising for some clothing chain she had no interest in patronizing after the 'real talk' of the actors proved stilted.

The silence was getting to her. For the first time in her life she ran a fan, just to have noise as she slept. Her bed felt too large, and she was really hoping that Caleb was the one, her future, the one she could see working in the long run. She closed her eyes, thinking of him and how happy he made her during the coffee date. Falling asleep unsettled, her thoughts ran that way.

Her dreams felt otherwise. Out of nowhere, unprompted, she felt her mind wrenched away from the recall of the coffee date...

_"You know what you need to do?" She saw Paris in front of her on her sofa, munching on her gluten-free crackers._

_"I actually don't." She found herself making a costume up for Martha to wear for her Christmas play at her preschool as the blonde regarded her with a look she had never noticed before from the intelligent woman._

_"Look, I know we're both having this pity party because we're down. Nobody understands us and our exes are being awkward. We should just admit out; our track records with men are bad."_

_Lorelai raised her eyebrow up from the small-sized snowflake outfit. "Umm, that's a subjective opinion."_

_"When was the last time you had coffee at Luke's?"_

_Lorelai wanted to recall, but only fished out a vague date. "I think the second week of May."_

_"Alright." A pause. "Ask me what happened the last time I thought about Oklahoma."_

_"What happened the last time you thought of Oklahoma?"_

_"I felt down. I can't hate Doyle. He hustles in Norman like he's a local following the Sooners around. But it still feels sad, because I have this image that doesn't include a transfer to OU for my senior year. We moved on at a good point."_

_"I didn't though, there's no comparison."_

_Paris groaned. "You let him go though. And you can't stand the thought of Christopher any longer."_

_"Hold on, how do you know that?"_

_"Because of how he tried to bend the will of the court his way with his money. That he turned Sherrie's PPD into a big joke. You don't date a guy like that, no matter the history."_

_"Or one who comes onto me while I'm still with someone." She remembered how she never wanted to see him again after the vow renewal. "Maybe you're right. This doesn't work for me anymore."_

_Paris slid off the couch to meet Lorelai at her eye level on the floor. "It just doesn't seem like you. The feelings are gone, replaced with something I haven't known with you." She slowly moved closer to the innkeeper. "I never thought I'd see defeat within you."_

_Lorelai's eyes widened. "Defeat?"_

_"Like you're beat down. Content to know eventually Rory is going to be with Logan, no matter what we say."_

_"But it's no business of mine--"_

_"I think it is. You don't want Rory to be uppity and snobby. She might be, and it's getting to you."_

_"I just wish I could forget for awhile," she admitted. "About that, about Luke, my stupid wedding dress filling up a stupid fourth of my stupid closet. I...I've been manipulated, and the only place I feel in control is work."_

_Paris nodded. "So what of your love life?"_

_Lorelai blinked a couple of times. "I'm old. Hardly anybody wants me any longer."_

_"Oh come on!" Paris's voice took on an indignant tone. "Nobody wants you? Are you serious? You pull off 21 better than I could right now."_

_"I don't believe you."_

_"The first time I saw you at Chilton I thought you were Rory's sister, come on!"_

_"Not true."_

_"Very true." Her eyes suddenly focused on Lorelai's. "You're undeniably attractive. Any man or woman would want you."_

_"And now you're just playing with me."_

_"I don't lie, you're very attractive." Paris smiled at her. "Very...very attractive."_

_Her voice took on a sudden deepness that jarred Lorelai. "In fact, if you were any more attractive I'd be in the same room with an actual goddess. That's how beautiful you are." She pushed closer, and somehow Lorelai's gaze had softened as the girl approached her further. "At least you care about things. You patched things up with Rory even though she's been nothing but unappreciative of her second chance."_

_"Paris..." Lorelai wandered off. "Not really thinking of her right now." Her own thought processes considered how hot Paris laid out everything matter-of-factly, as if it had been planted in her mind._

_"I'm not either." She approached closer, both their breaths unsteady. She took Lorelai's hand, filled with a few healing pokes from her sewing. "You know what I think?"_

_"Hmm?" She felt Paris was right in her private space, but not enough that it was uncomfortable._

_"That I'm attracted to you," she husked, her lips so close to Lorelai she could sense the younger woman's minted breath. "Maybe we could be happy together?"_

_Lorelai couldn't feel the muscles stretching that caused her head to shake, just staying still. "Make me happy?" A nod. "Paris, I barely know you."_

_"You know what pisses me off, you think I'm a lovely young woman, educated and even through the Asher stuff, you didn't mock it as much as Rory did."_

_"That's not--" She found her eyes distracted by the vee of Paris's sweater, showing off her cleavage. "Par, this is a bad idea."_

_"If you think so, why are you looking lost?" She found Lorelai glazed over. "Besides, you know how I am. If I kiss you, it's going to be dammmmn satisfying." She brushed her fingers over Lorelai's cheek. "You want this."_

_Lorelai found it useless to argue, staying silent as Paris closed in the last few centimeters._

_She expected Paris's lips to feel still, uncomfortable. That her kissing would be clumsy._

_In reality however, it was smooth. Her lips flexed against Lorelai's with her fingers nested at the bottom of the brunette's curls. Lorelai felt the urge to break away, but only for a moment._

_She was lost in this kiss. Unlike her first with each man she ever had, it was hardly strong, or domineering. The buss had a sense of Paris allowing her to pull back if she was uncomfortable. Both were silent, the tension tighter than a rubber belt._

_Lorelai was lost in those deep dark eyes that kept sentry over her since that first day at Chilton. Her understanding of why Paris found her 'journey' incomplete had now come to fruition;_

_That the journey with Rory had failed. But to fall for her had just begun to succeed._

_The kiss instigated further, Paris resting above her as they both went to the floor laying down. She felt Paris between her legs, ignoring the building pounding between her legs._

_Lorelai knew where this was going. So did Paris. But until another ten minutes of torrid kissing had passed and she found fingers against the zip of her sweater dress, she didn't know exactly where._

_Paris's hand was on her back. She craved to feel air and hot fingers against her spinal column. To go with this, to feel everything._

_"Fuck me," she hissed out. "Please, ravish me, Par."_

_Paris looked at her with a hot look of lust built into love and had her lay at her side, beginning to unzip the dress..._

_ZZZZZZIPPPPPP..._

__"WHOA!"

Lorelai quickly bounced up in her bed, shuddering and letting out small gasps as reality splashed her in the face. A bark from downstairs had emanated at the exact same time the unzipping reached the small of her back, where undoubtedly the girl would see the cleft of her rear thanks to her need to wear underwear slightly smaller than advised.

"BARK! BARK!" Paul Anka seemed to want to catch Lorelai's attention and she slid out of bed...

And into what seemed to be an unexpected bit of dampness, along with a probable public exposure charge with her tight grey nightie was above her navel, showing her lack of underwear.

She yelped and pushed it down before throwing on a robe and heading downstairs, her heart beating real fast as she headed into the living room to see Paul Anka barking at the window overlooking the porch. She readied herself for self-defense as she looked out the blind...

...only to find a taunting chipmunk atop the porch swing. Nothing outside except that.

"Oh come on, I ran down for this?" she complained, groaning as she shooed Paul Anka from the window and then banged on it to scare the small winterizing creature back to their tree.

"You're not going to find any nuts here," she shouted, knowing her wording would be dirty in several y circumstances. She looked down at her guilty dog and rolled her eyes.

"How many times have I told you that squirrels and chipmunks aren't what you protect me from? It's burglars." She called him upstairs to lie at the foot of her bed before rushing to the bathroom to look herself over. After splashing her face, she realized in her haste to get downstairs something she had missed as she realized her nipples were very visible through her sleepwear.

"I...that didn't just happen, did it?" She brushed her forehead as she pulled her nightie down, already finding it above the curve of her ass. "Really, dreams? I just had a nice night with a good guy and my first sex dream in a year is with Paris?"

She blew a frustrated breath up between her nose, rustling her hair. "And it wasn't even a sex dream. It was getting there and yet I'm wet as can be? Am I really this frustrated?"

Lorelai knew that her dog had to think his owner was crazy, talking about her lack of a sex life. She shook her head and decided right then and there it was time for this to stop.

"OK, let's do something else on Sunday. Anything else. I can't be around her..." She headed into her bathroom to grab her phone, to tell Paris something came up.

Instead, her phone taunted her with a '2 new messages' prompt. She flipped it open, hoping it was Caleb and a good night.

_Lorelai,_  
Ready to see you Sunday. Been missing seeing my favorite woman, have a few things to tell you.  
Paris 

__And then below that, a follow up;

_Lorelai,_  
Please wear something appropriate. That does not mean a too-tight 'Greatest American Hero' tee and skinny jeans.  
Paris 

__She wanted her finger to linger over 'reply' and tell her she was too sick for the weekend. To get Paris out of her brain, out of her mind.

Instead, she remembered another lingering look from that October visit when the blonde seemed to hang around a couple hours later than expected discussing her life, which seemed specifically built to have more time to look at Lorelai in her highly-charged choice of wardrobe.

Instead of a reply, she closed the phone, knowing that Paris sending two texts meant she could not cancel under any circumstances. _If I call in sick_ , Lorelai thought to herself, _she'll just come over and nurse me back to health_.

The innkeeper flopped back into her bed, both frustrated by Paul Anka's chipmunk intrusion, and her mind filled with the images of her and the woman half her age flirting her way into a near sex dream where she still ended up fulfilled.

Lorelai began to wonder if her mom did drink a little when she was pregnant. It was the only way she could explain having a nice guy in Caleb suddenly be second to an intense blonde woman who lived to torment others for their low intelligence.

"Maybe...this is my mid-life crisis," she told herself. "But instead of buying a fast car or blowing through my department store...I want to seduce a girl half my age who I've sketched out six times in just two weeks."

She tried to deny her feelings. "There is no way...I've never had feelings for a girl. The only time it got to me, Lucy and Renee were on their show just being damned blatant about it in those outfits and..."

She flopped on the pillow. "I don't want her. I can't want her. It would break the confidence of model and artist for one. And the other is Rory. I can't possibly do that, just because of her." With that, she clicked her alarm and sighed. "There, it's settled. No more Paris as sexy. Rory would kill me. So there. It's done. Sunday she's here as Rory's annoying friend, and by the end of that class I'll be with Caleb. So there."

With that, Lorelai closed her eyes, hoping that it would be the end of it. That voicing her frustrations would end this odd way she felt about Paris.

Four and a half hours later, Lorelai Gilmore woke up in her bed to the sound of a lamb baaing for her to wake up. It had been a very restful sleep.

It had also featured a string of three dreams featuring Paris Gellar seducing her, including one where both women had drank Miss Patty's punch and ended up caught in bed going at it by Lane walking in on them.

Her hair was a mess as she got up, along with her nightie. After her strong denial for how she felt for her model, Lorelai's first words to start the last day of the week were enough to express how she felt going into Sunday.

"I hope she's in rant mode all day," Lorelai told herself. "Damn it, I need her to stop being so cute and beautiful!"

Somehow she came to the conclusion that the chances of Paris looking ghastly in two days were odds nobody in Vegas would ever take.  


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To be continued...   
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